Aliens vs Predator : New Generation
by Lashana Inferno
Summary: It's been three years since Nyoko Noguchi and Annika left Hunter's Planet, three years since they left the Predator Pack they had trained with. But now Machiko has gone missing, and they're in for an adventure they didn't bargain for. Full Summary inside.
1. Nyoko Noguchi

Lashana & Telca don't own anything from the Alien vs Predator franchise. No sending of the lawyers please.   
  


**Alien vs Predator : The Next Generation**   
  


**Full Summary : **It's been three years since Nyoko Noguchi and Annika have set foot on Hunter's Planet, three years since they left the Predator Pack they had trained with. Time has put a rift between Nyoko and her parents, especially her father, Ned Sanchez. But now, faced with the knowledge that Machiko and a Predator Pack have gone missing while doing a routine reconnaissance patrol, she and her friends are embarking on an adventure that no one was prepared for. Putting up with her father will be one ordeal, but she never could have imagined the chaos that would come from her and her new friends joining up with her old Pack.   
  


Chapter 1 : Nyoko Noguchi   
  


_Heavy rain sliced down from dark clouds, soaking the small armoured form that silently made it's way through the thick jungle. The air was laden with moisture, the atmosphere hot and sticky, making every breath a fight against the overwhelming pressure, lungs straining to pull in oxygen despite the aid of a breathing mask. A trickle of water seeped under the hot facemask, and the human woman cursed softly at the sensation, fighting the urge to rip off the mask and simply continue without the enhanced vision it's sensors supplied._

_Her boots gave her precious little purchase on the rain slick ground, the mud and moss that made up most of the jungle floor forcing her to constantly check her footing. A crack of thunder split the calmness of the steady rhythm of rain drops hitting the leaves and ferns around her, and the accompanying flash of bright white lightning threatened to render her blind for a moment before she shook her head and forced herself to focus._

_It was near. She could practically smell it. She could definitely sense it. Her senses had been honed over the past few months of gruelling training, and while a part of her resented having to take part in this, another part of her, a more primal part, revelled in it._

_Another flash of lightning gave her a glimpse of her target, and she frowned under the mask, feeling her sweat and rain slicked hair plaster itself a bit more against her scalp as she edged to the right a little, just enough for a clean shot. Her soaked gloves gripped the plasma rifle tightly as she took aim, daring to whistle sharply to get her target's attention._

_Water flowed over black chitin as the large form rose and hissed, metallic silver teeth catching the dim light and reflecting it as the fangs parted, revealing another, smaller, yet more powerful set of jaws within. It's hiss grew in both volume and vehemence and she smirked under the mask as she saw it crouch slightly before it threw itself into the air, heading right at her._

_It's head exploded in mid-flight, and she calmly stepped aside as it's body fell to the ground and ploughed through the mire until it rested at her feet, it's acidic blood making the ground bubble a little._

_All the hard training, all the pain and bruises and striving.... and this was it? Her dark eyes were shadowed as she reached up and pulled off her mask, clipping it onto her belt. She stared down at the xenomorph as it's headless body shuddered once before lying still again, then rose her face to the clouds, letting the rain cool her face._

_An excited yell from her left made her look over towards another human, and she felt a smile spread over her lips as she returned her best friend's wave, her enthusiasm fading as a large form walked over to her. Once, she would have felt cowed, dwarfed as she was by the three meter tall behemoth, now though, after three long months of training under his Leadership, she felt quiet respect for him, and maybe a little fear. After all, she'd had yet to meet a human who wasn't a little wary of the yautja, the universes' perfect Predator._

_The Leader, Ash'eld'uir crouched and ripped one of the fingers off of the drone xenomorph's body, acid blood trickling from the broken digit as he straightened again and stared down at her, his expression unreadable, hidden as it was by his own mask._

_She watched, in morbid fascination perhaps, as he used one of his own sharp talons to slice open the palm of his left hand, letting his blood drip onto the bleeding xenomorph finger before he gestured for her to step forward. She knew what he was going to do, and knew that his own blood, yautja blood, dulled the acidic properties of the drone's blood enough that it wouldn't eat through her skull and kill her._

_Steeling her nerves, she stepped closer and closed her eyes, clenching her jaw tightly when she felt the skin on her forehead, right between her eyes, burn away in a white hot wave of pain. Holding back a curse, she opened her eyes and looked at Ash'eld'uir, seeing him nod at her in approval before he turned and walked over to the others that were also out to prove themselves._

_Frowning hurt, but she did it anyway, raising her hand to brush gloved fingers across the jagged scar she now had, her Blooded Mark that showed her to be worthy in the eyes of the yautja. Rain mixed with the blood that was trickling down the side of her nose, and she sighed as she closed her eyes and rose her face to the heavens again, letting the rain wash her clean....._

_Is this....all there is?_   
  


"Nyoko! Nyoko, wake up!" 

The sensation of being shaken roughly dragged her out of her dreams, and she grumbled out an incoherent curse before she grabbed the nearest pillow and clobbered whoever had dared to wake her with it. "Tol' ya, call'me _Chaos!_" 

Annika rubbed at her head where the pillow-turned weapon had smacked her, then rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. What_ever_. Get up O' Queen of Non-Morning People. It's like, past noon." 

Groaning, Nyoko - or Chaos as she preferred to be called these days - rolled onto her back and blinked up at the ceiling of the old warehouse that she, her best friend Annika and three others regularly hung out at. Sunlight streamed through an open window nearby, and she squinted at the light for a moment before sighing and sitting up, looking over at the other woman nearby. 

It had been five years since the two of them had been Blooded by Ash'eld'uir, and three since they had been sent here by their parents, to an offworld city. Now, at twenty-one years of age, neither of them were the same, nor would they ever be anything else than what they were now, and upon that realization, her gaze travelled to the jagged scar between Annika's eyes, suddenly very aware of the twin marking on her own forehead. 

"What?" Seeing her best friend staring at her, Annika leaned forward and blinked at her, her dyed chin-length pink hair whispering against her skin as she returned the stare. "What??" 

"Nothin'," Chaos muttered, shaking herself out of her reverie as she rose from the tangled blankets of her bed, taking a moment to tug her shorts and sportsbra back into place before stretching and heading for the bathroom. "Anything interesting happen while I was sleeping?" 

"Pssh. Yeah, right. I _wish!_" 

"Right. Stupid me." Shaking her head, Chaos padded barefoot into the small bathroom and kicked the door shut behind her. A sigh left her as she braced herself against the small sink and stared at her reflection in the mirror, her dark gaze travelling over her naturally tanned skin before rising to the stark white scar she wore. Some days, she hated her mother for being who she was, because in a way, that had forced her to become someone that she didn't really want to be. 

Twenty-one years ago, her mother had been a key element in overthrowing Livermore Evantson's plan to create and alter xenomorph drones by integrating cybernetics and genetic enhancements to turn them into warriors. His own personal warriors. At the time, be it fate or sheer luck, the yautja had been using that same planet to train, Hunt and hold Blooding rituals. And thus, by some twist of fate, Machiko Noguchi, thought a traitor by the Predator clans for betraying them by choosing to side with humanity during a Hunt years earlier, managed to convince the fifty Packs to help put a stop of Evanston's plans. 

In the end, after Evanston's death by the blades of a Predator, Machiko had found herself appointed as the owner of the late Evanston's planet, conveniently referred to as 'Hunter's Planet'. It was the only world that was free of the 'Company's' rules and regulations. A free world where people could thrive. There was only one little setback. The xenomorphs. 

They had fairly infested the planet during the short time where all attentions had been turned to helping wipe out Evanston's potential threat. The solution, while perhaps a little risky, was rather simple. Since the yautja had been using that very planet to stage various Hunts decades before humans had settled on it, Machiko and various Pack Leaders had drawn up a sketchy truce. The Predators could continue their business, so long as they agreed not to put the settlers on their lists of 'things to kill'. 

At the same time, Machiko had found herself pregnant, the result of a torrid affair with Ned Sanchez, a marine turned mercenary that had been hired by Evanston, and who had later defected in order to help Machiko overthrow the insane millionaire. 

The memories brought a frown to Nyoko's face, and she stared at herself a moment longer before twisting the sink's taps, waiting until the water had turned clear before cupping her hands under the stream. It was cold, frigid even, but she welcomed the sensation as she splashed herself in the face, the cool liquid forcing her to wake up a little more. 

Droplets of water clung to her shoulder-length midnight black hair, and she couldn't help but roll her eyes at her current hair-style. _Hair of death strikes again. Geez, it looks like a rat made a nest in my hair._ She raked her blue-painted nails through the short locks once, sighing in irritation when she had to fight to free her hand from a tangle. Her earrings reflected the light, playing colours over the mirror as she yanked her fingers free. Seven studded earrings adorned her right ear, and five were on her left and she grinned at the thought that the sight would probably send her father into hysterics. 

Chuckling darkly, she clicked the ball of her tongue piercing against her teeth and wiped her hands on a towel, winking at her reflection before grabbing Annika's hair brush and turning to saunter out into the small hallway again, deciding to follow the sound of loud harsh music to the open space of the warehouse. This place of theirs was more of their home than anything else, especially since they had dropped out of college a few months back. Ever since they had discovered the building a year ago she and Annika had gone to great lengths to scrounge up furniture and whatnot, even going as far as to install a homemade security system. 

At the farthest corner of the spacious room sat Annika, perched on a rickety chair as she typed at her computer. Calling her a 'computer-wizard' would be putting it lightly. Not only could she write up programs and encryption codes that were fairly impossible to crack, but Chaos had yet to see an online security system that her friend couldn't hack through. In her friend's hands, a computer was a formidable weapon. If need be, she was certain that Annika could hack and take over every computer within satellite broadcasting range if she really wanted to. 

The music was blaring from the computer's speakers at the moment, and Chaos belatedly wondered how her friend hadn't gone deaf yet as she walked over to her, savagely yanking the brush through her hair as she did so. "So, what's up?" 

"Besides you?" Bright green eyes sparkled from behind bright pink bangs as Annika swivelled her chair around to look at her best friend, her overlarge silver hoop earrings swaying slightly. "Not much. Tara called, she's gonna be late. Something about needing a new set of wheels for her skateboard." 

"Why the hell doesn't she just buy herself a new board already? Hell, why doesn't she just _make_ one? She can bulid a computer from scratch and hotwire a speeder in three seconds but she can't make a skateboard?" 

"Eh," Annika shrugged. "Who knows? Anyway, she said she and Ray will be over later." 

Chaos sighed and attacked a particularly tangled knot. Tara and Ray were the only friends she and Annika had managed to be blessed with when they had come to this planet, sent here by their parents in the hopes that human contact would soften them a little. According to their parents, they had been spending so much time with the yautja, training and so forth, that they felt that she and Annika had lost their 'human' edge. Thus they had been sent here, tossed into a human society that they barely knew anymore and left to fend for themselves. 

Last she had heard, her parents, Machiko and Ned, had broken up, the rift that had formed when she had been sent here under her father's wishes seemingly widening until they had both agreed that it might be better for them to be apart. Not that she cared anymore. 

"Yo, wake up, Chaos! You're zoning out again!" Worried, Annika reached out and shook her friend's arm, staring up at her. "You okay?" 

"Mm. Just thinking." 

"Good or bad?" 

"A bit of both, I suppose. Any word from Rakur'a? He promised he'd send us a message today." Rakur'a was one of the Predators that they had trained with when striving for their Blooding Mark. Oddly enough, they and the yautja had become very good friends, so much so that they constantly traded messages back and forth, despite the distance between them. She thanked her lucky stars that prolonged relations with humans had forced most of the yautja travelling to Hunter's Planet to learn English. True, she knew enough of their language to carry on a decent conversation, but it was a killer on the throat. 

Annika, meanwhile, leaned back in her chair and laced her fingers behind her head, propping a foot up on the edge of the desk as she did so. "No message yet. You know him though, he's probably out hunting down some mean lookin' thing. Y'know, I seriously think that all of the yautja males are born with severe testosterone poisoning." 

Chaos snickered. "You're not the only one who's come to that conclusion." 

"Didn't think so." She returned her friend's grin, then blinked when the computer beeped softly. "Hm? What's this now?" Lowering her arms, she straightened again and typed in a few commands. "Weyhey, looks like someone's just hacked into the city spaceport!" 

"Annika, _why_ are you keeping tabs on the spaceport systems?" 

"Hey, I'm a hacker. These systems are like my territory. And if anyone's gonna crash 'em, it's gonna be me!" 

"That's a twisted way of looking at it." 

"Yes, well. I'm a twisted person," she smiled, her gaze never leaving the screen as she continued to type. "Comes from living with you." 

"Oh, har har har. Veeeery funny." 

"I thought so. Ooo! Whoever this is, he's a smart little bugger! Lookie here, he's trying to track me. Haha! Eat virus, peon! Taste the wrath of, Panic, foolish mortal!" 

Nyoko rolled her eyes at the triumphant cry as her friend waged cyber-war on the hapless person and turned to head back to her small room to get dressed. "You're nuts. Absolutely nuts." 

"Maybe," came the giggling reply. "But I'm cute! Oh! Hey, don't go far, I just got a subspace uplink. S'got Rakur'a's pass code." 

"M'just gonna get changed. I'll be back in a sec." 

"Kay." Smiling cheerfully - thrashing trespassing cyber-punks always put her in a good mood - Annika broke the link between her computer and the spaceports', then turned her attention to the message that was slowly downloading onto the screen. Like all the messages she received from their yautja friend, it had already been translated into English, something she was extremely grateful for. While computers were her life, she didn't want to have to try her hand at linguistics. Especially not with the yautja language. 

Footsteps drew her gaze over to her friend, and she rolled her eyes in exasperation. Black jeans and a blood red top. Again. Over the years Nyoko, or Chaos as she now called herself, had turned into something of a goth. A dangerous one, mind you, considering how she had four black belts in various martial arts and a tendency to clobber anyone who looked at her sideways. Only a few people were allowed to see her real self, and Annika always counted herself lucky that she was one of those few. After all, Nyoko had been the one who had helped her train for her Blooding Rite, without her help, she would have never made it. 

"So?" Chaos asked, unknowingly jolting her friend out of her thoughts. "What's he say?" 

"Uhh...." She turned back to the screen and frowned. "Nothing much. He's just come back from the Detri system and he's got himself another trophy skull.... he says Ash'eld'uir wants to know if we're keeping up our training.... Ah. Here we go. Looks like your mum and my dad joined a scouting mission to go investigate some weird goings on in the Qyitoni system. Seems that they've been reading some freaky subspace signals from one of the planets there. They're all interested because that system's never been explored and it was thought to be uninhabited." 

"Really? Huh. Does he say anything else about it?" 

"Not much. Only that they left three days ago and that he wishes he'd been on Hunter's Planet at the time they asked for yautja volunteers for the mission. Most of the Preds think that since it's unexplored that there's mighty good hunting to be done in that system." 

"Figures. Ask him if he can find out any more about it." 

"Mm. He wants to know when we'll be coming back." 

"Well, telling him to take that up with my father would be a bad suggestion," Chaos muttered sourly, shaking her head. "And since this city's got some major paranoia about aliens and a lot of firepower to back it up, we can't even risk asking him to come get us." 

Annika nodded. "It sucketh much. What do you want me to tell him?" 

"The truth." 

"That we don't know and that we hate it here?" 

"Bingo." 

"Kay." Her fingers flew over the keypad as she typed out their reply. "Anything else?" 

A smile slowly spread over Chaos' lips. "Yeah. Tell him that when we get back he'd better bring us hiking or hunting or something, else I'll kick his ass. Again." 

She giggled and added that to the message. "Oh yeah, that'll get a nice response. You just love rubbing the reminder that you beat him that time in a one-on-one fight, don't you?" 

"Yup!" 

A noise from the front of the warehouse drew their attentions then, as did the joyful yell that echoed loudly: "Yaiya! The third of the Insane is here! Chaos, Panic! Where are my counterparts? Disorder is here!" 

"Tara's here," Annika snickered, grinning at the sound of their nicknames. It had started as an inside joke, referring to themselves as 'Chaos, Panic and Disorder', but since they had started hanging out together all the time, it had become more and more of a trademark. 

"Do tell." Nyoko's right eyebrow quirked slightly as their red-haired friend skateboarded into the room, her khaki capri pants contrasting with the red shirt she wore. "Hey, you. How's it goin?" 

Blue eyes met the other woman's dark gaze. "Fantastic! Look!" She kicked her board into her hands and displayed the new wheels on it's underneath. "Custom made! Don't these go great with the cosmos painting on the underside?" 

"Do they ever! Lucky you. Hope you got a good deal, not many people like these things anymore. They're twentieth century." 

"Don't care! It manoeuvres like a dream now! No stupid rollerblades for me!" 

"Hey!" Feigning annoyance, Annika turned in her chair and shook a finger at Tara. "No dissing of the 'blades! Besides, Chaos and I can out race you any day!" 

Giggling, Tara threw herself down onto a chair and set her board next to her. "Yeah, yeah. You just keep believing that. So? What's up? We doin' anything today?" 

"Dunno. We're just finishing up a reply to Rakur'a." 

Tara looked over at the raven haired woman. "That's one of your Pred friends, right? Geez, you know, I'd love to meet one of them sometime! Be the first person from this stupid community to actually get off this rock and get a _life!_ Y'know, meet new people, blow something up, that sort of thing." 

"Believe me, when Annika and I find a way off this hellhole, we'll bring you with us." 

"Sweet!" 

"And the message is away!" Annika cried cheerfully as she sent the reply to Rakur'a off into the waves of subspace. "He should get it almost immediately. You wanna wait for an answer or go cavorting around the city?" 

"Cavorting!" Tara yelled, grinning sheepishly when Chaos glared at her. 

"Cavorting's fine. I could do with some lunch too, actually. We can try that place down near the Main Shopping Complex." 

"We have a plan!" Tara's enthusiasm was infectious it seemed, because Annika felt her spirits boost up to levels that she could normally only reach with a large amount of sugary treats. Mirroring the red-heads grin, she hopped off her chair and raced to get her rollerblades and Chaos' as well. "We gonna swing by Ray's place and pick him up?" 

"Might as well," Chaos nodded as she shucked out of her black boots and leaned against a chair while putting on her rollerblades. "He'd never forgive us if we went somewhere where there's food and didn't bring him along." 

Tara rolled her eyes dramatically and hopped in place, her board clutched to her chest. "Can we _go_ now?! Huh?!" 

"Geez, calm down a little, will you?" Annika groused as she finished strapping her 'blades in place. "Let us at least get our 'blades on before you start whining." 

"I do not _whine._" 

"You do," Chaos grinned as she calmly glided in circles around Tara, loving the speed and fluidity that her rollerblades provided her. "Loudly." 

"Oh shaddup." 

"Articulate as always, I see." Snickering, Annika took a moment to insure that all her security programs were running, then pushed away from the desk and skated towards the door, deciding to leave the computer on in case Rakur'a sent another message. "Let us skate!" 

"Yahoo!" Tara took a running start, then threw her board on the ground and landed on it, her momentum sending her speeding out the side door of the warehouse, the only entrance that the group used. "Eat my dust, suckers!" Cackling, she skidded down a railing, and hit the ground perfectly, laughing when she saw Chaos and Panic struggling to catch up to her. 

Unfortunately, none of them had seen the message that had popped up on Annika's computer, the bright red letters of 'Urgent' flashing it's beckons to an empty warehouse.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


TBC 


	2. The Plan

Usual Disclaimer: We own nothing.

Chapter 2 - The Plan

The golden red suns had just dipped down behind the horizon when the group returned, breathless and grinning from their lengthy race through the city. As usual, it was Chaos and Annika that burst into the warehouse first, quickly followed by Tara and then Ray, who was alternating between gasping for breath and cursing, his clothes completely soaked.

"Dammit! I would have won if you hadn't shoved me into that fountain!" he growled, glaring at a snickering Annika angrily. "Do you know what it's like to skate around in waterlogged rollerblades?!"

Grinning, Chaos glided towards him and reached out to ruffle his soaked brown locks, the purple tips looking almost black because of the water. "Excuses, excuses. You're just miffed because that bird attacked you."

"Which, may I add, was hysterical."

Ray sent a nasty gesture in Tara's direction. "You shut up. This is all your fault."

Annika chuckled and skated over to her computer, having seen a flashing message on it's screen. "Wuss."

Grey green eyes glared out from behind soaked bangs. "Bitch!"

"That's Miss Bitch to you," Chaos said sweetly as he wrung water out of his shirt, adding to the puddle that had formed at his feet as he shook his head, sending droplets flying everywhere and causing Tara to let out a shriek of surprise. "Ugh, men."

Rolling her eyes, Annika plunked herself down onto her chair and leaned her elbows on the desk, casually tapping a finger on the keypad to open the message they had received. Her lips moved silently as she read the obviously hastily typed message, her eyes widening in mixed worry and horror as she re-read a particular paragraph. "Oooh, _shit!_ Fuck! Nyoko, get over here!"

Blinking in surprise, for it was rare that Annika called her by her given name anymore, Chaos frowned and skated over to her. "What? What's wrong?"

"Remember the message we got from Rakur'a? Well we should have waited for the response." Dimly aware that Ray and Tara had crowed around them, Annika reached out and tapped a nail against the computer screen. "Ash'eld'uir passed on some updated news while we were typing up our reply message. Chaos, the group that went to the investigate that signal in the Qyitoni system, they didn't check in yet, they're over twenty hours overdue. And long range probes saw no evidence of their ship in orbit but.... there's wreckage on the planet's surface. It managed to do half a scan before contact with the probe was lost."

Confused, Ray glanced from a silent Chaos to Annika. "And this pertains to us, how?"

"My mother and Annika's father were part of the scouting team that went to investigate some weird energy signals," Chaos whispered, fisting her shaking hands as she stared at the screen, reading Rakur'a's message over and over.

The colour drained from Tara's face. "Shit. What are they gonna do?"

"Dunno," Annika murmured. "He didn't say anything.... Nyoko...."

"Send a message to Rakur'a," Chaos frowned, her voice wavering slightly. "I want to know _everything._ Get him to beat it out of someone if he has to, but I want to know what the hell happened."

"I know that look." Ray backed away as Annika started typing and rose a hand to point at the raven haired woman. "That's the same look you had when you made that plan to obliterate the gang that was hassling us!"

"It worked, didn't it?" Tara pointed out. "Besides, this is personal, Ray. Get a bit of decency, will you? It's their folks, for God's sake!"

"I know! I know! I'm sorry. Alright, what's the plan? And don't play dumb, Chaos, I know you. You've already got a plan in that head of yours, I know it."

The woman shook her head slightly and moved to perch on the edge of a coffee table, staring down at her roller blades. "I don't know yet. It depends on what Rakur'a says. Mom can take care of herself, she can kick ass with the best of them. But still.... I trust my instincts. Something stinks, and for once it isn't Ray."

"Hey!" Knowing it was her way of trying to lighten the tension, Ray played along and flicked droplets of water at her. "I resent that remark!"

"Sent the message," Annika reported, glancing at Tara when her friend rubbed a hand against her back reassuringly. "I don't know when he'll read it though." A heavy sigh left her as she looked over at Chaos, easily seeing the worry the woman was struggling to hide. While Nyoko and her parents had never really seen eye-to-eye, she still held a deep love for them. But if the worst had happened, at least Chaos would still have a father. Annika's own mother had died giving birth to her; her father was all she had, family-wise. 

"Well, we can't just sit here." Hating the heavy mood that had fallen upon them, Tara planted her fists on her hips and glared at the other two women. "Now look, they're gonna have to send out a reconnaissance team, right? Chaos?"

"What? Oh, yeah. But it's custom to wait until they've lost contact for seventy-two hours before sending out another team." Raising a hand to massage her aching temple, she closed her eyes and tried to remember what little military knowledge she had gained from her father. "Um, they'll have to review the data the probe got, and the flight plan. They'll look at all options before assuming the worst. Like that the probe malfunctioned, or got taken out by a passing meteor or space debris."

"Yeah. They'll probably send out another probe," Annika added, frowning when a thought occurred to her. "Though it's weird, because if they did crash.... if they had taken one of the Pred ships, they probably would have survived the landing, so why no distress beacon?"

"I'll take that and raise you this." Tara thunked herself down onto a couch and rested her elbows on her thighs, staring at them. "Why is it that only Hunter's Planet picked up those wacked out signals? Why not some of the other worlds? Hell, why not the shithole we're on now? They've got the tightest security around, and I know that we'd have heard something about some unexplored system suddenly giving out odd subspace signals."

Ray nodded, folding his arms over his chest. "Tara's right. We're definitely missing something. I mean, hell, if there were signals, why didn't the Company jump at the chance? They're money-grabbing bastards, they would have jumped into hell itself if there was a chance to open another trade agreement or colonize another planet."

Mind whirling, Annika leaned back in her chair and met Chaos' gaze. "Unless...."

"Unless the signal was directed _at_ Hunter's Planet!" Chaos finished their shared thought. "Then they walked right into a trap! But who the hell would be stupid enough to pull something like that on the Preds? Or better yet, my mother?"

"The Company wouldn't dare, that's for sure," Tara frowned. "They're stupid, but they're not suicidal. Unless they hired someone out on contract?"

"Nah. It'd still lead back to them. Yo, Chaos, your mother got any enemies?"

She rolled her eyes and smirked at Ray. "You want that list by number or alphabetically?"

"Right. Silly me."

"Besides," Annika added. "They wouldn't succeed anyway. No one knows we do business with the yautja. And if the team took one of the Pred ships - which they probably did if they covered sixty thousand light years in under a day - whoever wanted to take them out would have had to plan ahead for serious firepower."

"Okay. So, let's review." Ray ticked off the points on his fingers. "Someone's sending signals to Hunter's Planet, and it's got to be altered in such a way that the computers couldn't tell that it wasn't a wide channelled transmission. Which means that whoever sent it, not only knows about the Preds, but might hold a grudge against Chaos' old lady. On top of that, they'd have to have some serious shit to ground the ship, which means that whoever's on that planet went through _a lot_ of planning to get this done. Right?"

Chaos nodded. "Right."

"So what are we gonna do about it?" Tara asked. "You think the others on HP will figure this out too?"

"Dunno. If the transmission was doctored in just the right way, it'd be near impossible for them to tell that it hadn't been transmitted to the other sectors. And Hunter's Planet tends to avoid contact with the Company controlled planets...." Annika trailed off for a moment, then swivelled her chair around and started typing. "So they wouldn't know that it had been targeted just for them, and since there were Preds on that scouting mission, you can bet that the yautja are going to be pushing for another team to be sent out _now....._"

"Which means that everything's gonna be rushed through, or worse yet, the Preds might just go ahead on their own, and you can bet that Rakur'a's gonna be going!" Eyes wide, Chaos lunged to her feet and bladed over to Annika. "Shit."

"Oh, we're hip deep in it," Ray muttered, exchanging glances with Tara before backing away from the red-head, not liking the wild look in her eyes. "Hell no!"

The two Blooded fighters blinked and looked over at him. "What?"

"Ooo, they speak in stereo." Grinning, Tara hopped to her feet and walked over to them. "Let's haul ass and go save the day! You said so yourself, they won't go for seventy-two hours, and unless they're feeling weirdly talkative, they're not gonna tell any other sectors about this, right? I mean, _c'mon!_ What better reason to hijack a ship and leave?"

"Hijack a ship?" Eyes wide, Ray stared at her as if she had grown a second head. "Are you _nuts?!_ None of us are pilots, Tara! And it's not as easy as it sounds! Someone would have to distract the security guards, and the cameras, and lets not forget the patrolling scout ships and satellites in orbit!"

"Oh chill. I know someone that can fly.... well, sorta. Technically, if she's caught piloting a ship in Company space she'll be sent right to prison for the rest of her life, but that's only if she gets caught. Annika could hack into the spaceport system and fuck things up enough for us to get in, and worse comes to worse, we can enlist Sypher, right? She's hacked Company systems before."

"Yeah, but she's gone Underground after the Company put out a warrant for her arrest after that whole mess with the military," Ray reminded her, remembering the trouble their friend had gotten into a few years back. "We'd never be able to find her in time."

Annika cleared her throat. "Actually.... it'd be pretty easy considering that I have contacts in the Underground. One message here, a call there and she'll be on our doorstep in five hours tops."

"There, see?" Tara turned to Chaos and looked at her expectantly. "What'd'ya say?"

Taking a breath, Chaos turned her gaze to Annika, who smirked. Chuckling, she grinned ferally and looked at the others. "Let's do it." After Tara's scream of joy had finished echoing throughout the warehouse, Chaos continued. "Tara, get ahold of that friend of yours. Get her here, ASAP. Tell her that if she helps us that we can get her citizenship on Hunter's Planet and that it's free of the Company rules. Ray.... you don't have to come if you don't want to. Chances are, we're gonna get in deep shit for this. Hell, I've half a mind to go to that Qyitoni system m'self!"

"Nuh-uh. I'm not missin' this for all the credits in the universe!" he protested, eyes dancing. "Besides, who else is gonna keep you lot alive?"

Annika snickered. "Delusional, aren't you?" she grinned, reaching up to tap the Mark on her forehead. "We fought and killed xenos for these, y'know. Believe me, if the shit hits the fan, _we'll_ be keeping _you_ alive!"

Ignoring the sour look Ray gave them, Chaos turned back to Annika. "Get ahold of Sypher. And see what you can find out about this Qyitoni system. I wanna know everything about it. Ray?"

"Yo."

She dug a fair amount of money out of her pocket and threw it at him. "We need caffeine. Lots of it. We're pullin' an all-nighter."

"Yes ma'am!"

Tara grinned and grabbed his arm, pulling him towards the door. "C'mon, I'll go with ya. My friend's place isn't far anyway."

Annika waited until they were alone before looking at Chaos, who smirked at her. "You do realise that this is insane, right?"

The light from the computer screen made Nyoko's eyes glow eerily as the woman grinned. "Yup. But rational thought's never done much for me."

"Good point."

TBC


	3. Reconnaissance

Usual Disclaimer: We own nothing.

Chapter 3 - Reconnaissance

By the time dawn came around, the inside of the warehouse looked like a high-tech robot carrying numerous files folders had walked in, and promptly exploded. Pieces of equipment, various mechanical parts and dozens of printouts lined every table top and even certain portions of the floor. 

An empty bottle of Cozmo Cola rolled across the floor and came to rest against a booted foot. Said foot was attached to Ray, who was sprawled out on his back on the couch, snoring loudly in the kind of resonating way that only a man can accomplish. Annika was slumped over onto her keyboard, her arms hugging the computer part to her as she slept, a half-eaten sugary treat still possessively clutched in her left hand. Chaos, meanwhile, was sprawled out on the floor amongst printouts that held what little information about the Qyitoni system that Annika had managed to gleam together.

Just as the first bright rays of the planets twin suns started shining through the warehouse windows, a cheerful yell and a powerful kick to the side door jerked the trio out of their peaceful slumber, resulting in a brief mass panic. While Ray merely screamed and toppled from the couch, smacking his head on a nearby table as he did so, Annika jumped to her feet with a shriek, forgetting that she was still wearing her rollerblades and thus crashing to the floor. Spurred into coherency from the multiple yells and yelps of surprise, Chaos lunged for the drawer of Annika's desk and drew the handgun they kept for emergencies, dropping to one knee as she trained the weapon at the supposed threat.

Tara blinked. "Geez, time to switch to decaf, guys."

Chaos sighed and lowered the gun. "Tara. Gods, Have you ever heard of _knocking?!_"

"I know _of _it," the red head grinned and pulled her guest in after her as she walked deeper into the building. "Guys this is Faelyn, more commonly known as 'Maverick'. Mav, these are my posse. That's Annika, Chaos and the big lump over there is Ray."

Ray groaned and rose a hand from where he was still on the floor, nursing a bump on his skull. "Hi."

Mav quirked an eyebrow at the male, then looked over at the black-haired woman, meeting her steady gaze. "So you're the famous, Chaos. The one who took out that street gang? Damn, I thought you'd be taller."

Rolling her eyes, Chaos flipped the safety on the gun and shoved it under the waistband of her jeans. "Thanks, I think." Amused, she studied the other woman, noting her casual stance, and the slight bulge of a gun under her jacket. Hazel eyes stared back at her,a stark contrast to the dark blue hair she had, the long locks pinned up so that only a few strands hung free to frame her face. She wore black boots and black pants, her grey jacket covering a light blue shirt. "Tara told you why you're here?"

"Some of it. I have to admit, I'm curious. But you do know that I have a record, right? I'm banned from operating a ship. If you're caught with me, you'll all be arrested."

Annika smirked. "As if we care," she said, once again seated at the desk. "Don't you worry, we can handle ourselves. And if any cop is stupid enough to lay a hand on, Chaos, he'll regret it fast enough."

"Poor bastard wouldn't stand a chance," Ray added with a grin as he slowly rose to his feet, his left hand still holding his head. "What we want ta know, 'Maverick', is if you're in or not."

She glanced at Tara, who gave her a wild grin, then shrugged. "I'm not partial to this turd of a planet. You say you can get me onto a planet free of the Company?" When Chaos nodded, she frowned and folded her arms over her chest. "Alright. I'll help. On one condition : I want in. Not on just this piloting thing, but all of it. You guys have got some serious shit going on, and I'm tired of leading a boring life. I want excitement, and considering that you're planning on stealing a ship and infiltrating God knows how many planetary security systems, my best bet of seeing some action is with you people. Deal?"

Chaos glanced over at Annika, who gave her a bewildered look. "Ug, this is entirely a too complicated conversation to be having this early in the morning. Fine, fine. You've got yourself a deal. But you screw us over and you'll wish you'd never been born, clear?"

Maverick grinned and held out her right hand. "Crystal." After shaking the woman's hand and recovering from the amazing strength she had felt in Chaos' grip, she shucked out of her jacket and threw it onto a nearby couch, revealing the holster and gun that she wore. "Okay, let's get this mental asylum on the road. C'mon, Tara, you and me are gonna piece together a few little gadgets we're gonna need."

"Kewl," Her excitement growing, Tara followed Mav over to a table that she usually used as a workstation while she built and repaired various little tools and such for Annika, sending a glance over at her friend when a thought nagged at her. "Yo, Panic! Heard from Sypher yet?"

"I sent out a few feelers, but I haven't heard anything yet."

"We don't have much time left," Ray frowned as he moved to stand behind the computer-wiz, looking at the screen worriedly. "It'll take a day to get to Hunter's Planet, and if we want to get there before they send out another team, we'll have to leave like...."

"Tonight," Chaos finished for him. "Yeah, I know. Annika? If Sypher's not here by midday, we may have to go without her."

"Damn." Taking stock of the mess around her, Annika dug through a few piles of data disks and extra cables before pulling out her much used portable computer. "Tara?"

"Yo?"

"Gonna need you to do minor surgery on my comp here," she called. "I need to boost the drive power by ten, and I want a new memory chip that's capable of processing at least a thousand ninety gigaquads a second and I'm gonna need new access ports installed!"

Tara frowned. "Geez, you want me to go part an ocean for you too? Where the hell do you expect me to get that stuff on such short notice? I need at least a day to find that kinda stuff! Well, legally anyway...."

"What about illegal?"

"Uhh. Well, considering how pressed for time we are.... I _could_ get the stuff from one of the Company offices downtown. They have their own repair shops in their complex, I'd just need to get in and out without getting killed."

"No way," Mav protested, looking up from a circuit board she was examining. "It's too risky. You get caught stealing in there and you're fucked."

"I need those upgrades," Annika said, turning to look at a silent Chaos. "Without them I don't stand a chance at hacking into any high-tech systems. My computer will short out so fast it won't even be funny. I sent a request to Sypher to bring them, but if she doesn't show...." She trailed off as her friend turned and walked back to the small living quarters, her heart skipping a beat as the thought that something might be seriously wrong occurred to her. 

Her worry abated a little when Chaos returned, but her eyes widened when she recognised the lockbox that she carried. "You can't be serious! If Ash'eld'uir finds out he'll have your hide!"

"Then we'll just have to make sure he _doesn't_ find out. Tara, c'mere." She set the box on the edge of Annika's desk and thumbed the release hatch, hearing Ray's soft gasp of surprise when she nudged the top open to reveal two forearm gauntlets. Ignoring the disbelieving look that Annika was giving her, she picked up one of the items and turned to look at Tara. "This is just a loan, and you can _never_ tell anyone else about this."

Blue eyes wide in wonder, the other woman let her gaze wander over this new piece of technology, hundreds of questions flowing through her mind as she mentally tried to pick it apart. Watching carefully, she stared at Chaos as her raven haired friend hit an invisible switch, then slid the arm band on, the alien gauntlet automatically resizing to snugly fit her left forearm. 

"See here, it's a portable computer. Nothing overly fancy, mind you, considering that it's not compatible with anything on this planet. Anyway, this is what you'll need to know." Dimly aware that they were all watching her, Chaos ran through a quick explanation of the Predator armament, pointing out what controls did what and how Tara could use it to help her infiltrate the offices. "And this is how you'll get in undetected." With a smirk, she activated their new trump card, grinning when everyone except Annika yelped at the sight of her suddenly vanishing. She waited a few more moments before deactivating the field, chuckling at Tara's dumbfounded look. "The best English translation I have is a 'shift-suit'. What it does is bend light, it'll render you invisible. If you're quiet enough, you'll be able to get in and out easily."

"Where the hell did you find that?!" Curious, Maverick leaned closer and inspected this new toy. "I've never seen anything like it. Even the Company hasn't come out with technology so advanced!"

"It's.... a long story."

"I think you'd better fill her in then," Ray frowned. "She's bound to find out sooner or later."

Annika sighed and shook her head as she reached into a desk drawer, handing a small comm headset to Tara. "You go, I'll hack into their systems and try to create a diversion. Chaos? You do the explanations, okay?"

"Oh sure," she groused, taking the gauntlet off and handing it to an excited Tara. "Give me all the hard stuff."

~*~

By the end of the lengthy explanations pertaining to Hunter's Planet, her mother, the yautja, how she had gotten her Mark, and why they were hell bound on going back, Chaos couldn't help but wonder if perhaps she shouldn't have told Mav at all. While Ray was calmly absorbing her tale yet again, Maverick looked like she was ready to break out into her own private musical. Excitement and curiosity were fairly radiating off of her in waves, and Chaos winced as she felt a headache knawing at the edge of her thoughts.

"Man, you sure don't live a boring life!" Mav said, shaking her head slightly while still grinning. "Damn. I should have hooked up with you ages ago!"

"Believe me, when all this fiasco is said and done, you might be glad you didn't join us sooner!" Annika called from where she was hacking into the office complex's system and setting off a fire alarm, insuring that Tara would be able to get in unseen amongst the crowd. "Don't forget, even after we get out of here, we'll still be in deep shit when we reach Hunter's Planet. They might not even listen to us."

"Yeah, well, we'll blow up that bridge when we come to it." Groaning softly, Ray stretched his arms over his head, then ran a hand through his short messy hair. "Anyway, like Chaos said, we could just go ahead and head straight for that Qtonic system on our own."

"That's 'Qyitoni' system," Chaos corrected the mispronunciation gently. "And no. That would be stupid at best. Besides, I think I can at least get Rakur'a to help. And I'd really like to know more about what happened before we fling ourselves into the line of fire."

"There's a first," Annika smirked. "Now shut up. I can't hear, Tara." Pointedly ignoring the annoyed look that Chaos shot her, she turned her full attention back to her computer, eyeing the layout of the offices as she reached up to tap the earpiece she wore. "Repeat that, Tara. What's fucked?"

Across town, a shimmering invisible form banged her head against a corridor's wall in frustration, then hissed into the comm, wondering if the droning of the alarm registered over the comm line. "I _said_ that the fuckin' fire alarm security measures sealed all the hallways! I can't get in an I'm stuck between offices!"

There was a pregnant pause. Then, "Oh."

Tara muttered an uncomplimentary opinion of Annika's answer and took another look around, her blue eyes narrowing when she spotted a ventilation shaft above her head. "Dammit."

"Come again?"

She sighed and shook her head, knowing that Annika couldn't see her. "Nothin'." Reaching back, she gathered her hair into a messy bunch and shoved a pencil she had snatched off a desk into it, effectively pinning the red mane in place. Mentally reviewing how much Annika would have to thank her for this, she dragged a chair over to the wall and climbed up, using her pocket knife to loosen the bolts securing the grate to the wall before throwing the entire thing aside.

Marvelling at how much noise that grate had made as it had crashed to the floor, she deactivated the 'shift suit' and hauled herself into the shaft. The one foot by one foot space made the goings cramped at best and panic attack inducing at worst, and as she belly wiggled her way through the dusty metal vents, she had to constantly remind herself that not only was this for a good cause, but that by the end of it, she would be free of this city and all it's inhabitants.

A fork in the crawl space made her pause, her breath frighteningly loud in the confining space. "Panic?"

Static crackled in her ear. "Yo."

"I'm in a ventilation shaft. I need to know where to go. I'm.... uh.... hmm.... I'm not sure where I am."

"Copy that. Hang tight. Giving you over to, Chaos."

Tara's right eye twitched. "Hang tight?! Sure, I'll fuckin' hang tight. Hell, if I die here they can just cut out this part of the ventilation shaft, bolt up the ends and it'll make a cheap coffin!"

"Tara. It'll be okay. Can you see the gauntlet?"

The sound of Chaos' calm voice helped sooth her frayed nerves, and for a moment the walls didn't seem too confining. "Uh, yeah."

"Alright. There's a switch just to the left of the 'shift suit' module. It's a short range homing beacon. It's not on any Company wavelengths, so don't worry. Just turn it on and Annika will be able to guide you through." There was a pause and muffled whispers. "....what.... not short.... long range? Shit. Tara? Tara, you still there?"

She rolled her eyes at the absurdity of the question. "Where _else_ would I be?" 

Chaos ignored her attempt at humour. "We're gonna have to do this quick. Turn it on. I'm handing you back to Annika."

As she groped for the proper button, Annika's voice came through. "Did you-- Oh. Nevermind. I'm registering you."

"Great. Where do I go?"

"Uhhh. Left. Left, and then at twenty yards there's gonna be another split. Take a right."

"'K." Cursing under her breath, she belly crawled through the shaft, glad that the rubber soles of her boots gave her purchase on the flat metal as she wriggled forward. By the time she reached the next intersection, she was panting for air, a trickle of sweat trailing down the nape of her neck. "Shit, for a ventilation shaft, it needs more ventilation."

"The fans were deactivated when the fire alarm went off," Annika told her. "Keeps the flames from spreading."

"Right. Okay, Panic, now what?"

"There should be a grate about three meters ahead of you. It'll drop you down right in the middle of the supply room that's attached to the computer repair office."

"Right. I see it. Want me to shut off this beacon thingy now?"

"Yup. You okay now?"

"Peachy." She deactivated the signal, then carefully lifted the grate and stuck her head through, taking a quick upside-down look around the room before gripping the edge of the opening and flipping down to the floor. Carefully packaged computer parts lined numerous shelves, and she resisted the urge to giggle happily as she unslung her backpack from her shoulders and started with her little five-finger discount shopping.

Ten minutes later, her bag was close to bursting, and the low droning wail of the fire alarm gave a final warble before falling silent, signifying that her free time was up. Fire doors that had dropped to prevent the spread of a potentially lethal inferno retracted, and she quickly activated the 'shift suit', widening it's field before hugging her bag of pilfered parts to herself and creeping out into the unbarricaded hallway.

Crowds of workers were already streaming back into the building, making her seriously being to regret her rash idea as she shrank back against a wall, hiding behind a tasteless replica of an indoor Earth plant, watching as the murmuring crowd began to split up, employees returning to their designated spots. She knew that as soon as someone saw the open vents and missing parts in the shop that she'd be done for, hence the fact that as soon as the coast was clear, she made a mad dash for the rear exit.

There was a burst of static, and then a frighteningly loud, "Tara?"

She hissed into the small mic and ran faster, her heart leaping up into her throat when another alarm, this one at a different pitch than the last, blared through the building. "Shitshitshit!" Her breathless whispered mantra continued as she cut around a worker, her boots squeaking on the floor as she made a sharp turn and lunged for the main exit. A panicked shout of 'ghost' spurred her onwards, making her hit the door full throttle, not even slowing down as she took the stairs leading down to the road three at a time, then bolted down the block and around the corner.

Her skateboard was right where she left it, hidden in the folds of a ragtag looking bush that at one time might have looked appealing, landscape wise. After taking a frantic look around to insure that she was alone, she deactivated the invisibility field and slung her bag onto her back, setting one foot on her board as she reached up to tap the headset she wore. "Mission accomplished. I'm comin' home."

TBC


	4. New information

Usual Disclaimer: We own nothing.

Chapter 4 - New information

Still on a high from her infiltration and narrow escape from the complex, Tara arrived at the warehouse in record time, her heart still beating rapidly as she sent another glance back over her shoulder, half expecting to see a battalion of law-enforcers bearing down on her. Relieved that she seemed to be in the clear, she kicked her board into her hands and walked into the building, grinning at the hoots and cries of victory from her friends. 

Her grin morphed into a wry smirk as she gave them a half-bow. "Thank you, thank you. There will be no encore."

Annika giggled. "Awww! But you were so _good!_"

Tara rolled her eyes and went to upend her pilfered trophies onto a table. "Maybe, but I don't wanna have to do that again very soon. Crawling around in ventilation shafts is not my idea how to have a fun-filled afternoon."

"Technically it's still morning," Ray commented, snickering and looking away when she glared at him.

"_Any_way," she continued, walking over to the desk and removing the gauntlet before retrieving Annika's laptop. "I got everything you needed and more. So not only do we have backup parts, but I think I'll actually be able to throw together a few more communicators and maybe a scanner or something."

"Have I mentioned that you're my best-friend in the whole wide universe?" Annika smiled, beaming at the redhead happily.

"Not lately. But keep saying it, it's dulling the urge to smack you for what I went through. By the way, where's Mav and Chaos?"

Ray shrugged and jerked a thumb towards the hallway that led to the bedroom. "Chaos is packing and Mav ran home to get some of her stuff. Said she had a few goodies that would help."

"Ooh. Kewl." At Annika's curious look, Tara chuckled. "Maverick's 'goodies' tend to be inventive and highly useful."

"Define 'inventive'."

"Oh, nothing bad, if that's what you're thinking. I'm sure she's got some leftover parts from when we built that speeder a while back, a few lock pick tools, scanners, that sort of thing." She took apart the laptop as she spoke, mentally taking note of what she had to upgrade and where she might end up having a bit of trouble. "She's like you, Panic. Except, instead of being a wizard of computers, she focuses on the hardware. Computers, ships, anything that's mechanical, she can figure it out."

"So basically, she's like you."

She shook her head at Ray's comment. "Nah. I'm good at this stuff, but the stuff she can do, man, it's so far out of my league it's not even funny. She taught me a lot of what I know now. The rest I learned on my own, taking stuff apart, seeing how it worked and then putting it back together again." A chuckle left her as she paused and rose her gaze to look at them. "My folks were less than pleased when I took the family speeder apart. I was ten at the time."

Annika laughed. "Yeah. Sounds like you alright." Still smiling, she turned her attention to the Predator gauntlet next to her keyboard, taking a moment to make sure that Tara hadn't accidentally activated any of the other hidden systems in it before setting it back down. "Anyway, I've been poking around the Spaceport's systems. It should be easy to mess up their security long enough to hijack a ship."

"Very kewl. As soon as we figure out if Sypher's coming, thing's'll be all set." Bored, and wanting to help, Ray joined Tara at the table and carefully started opening boxes, content to act as her assistant as she worked. A soft warble from the main computer caught his attention then, and he rose his gaze to look at Annika as she turned excited eyes to the screen. "What's up?"

Her fingers flew over the keys for a moment before she answered. "I had a program running in the background. It was doing a planet-wide system search on any information relating to the Qyitoni system...."

Tara looked over at the woman when she trailed off, then frowned. "Okay, enter rest of explanation here."

"Huh? Oh. Um, seems that the worm I sent out into the computers came back with something. It uh.... hmm." She paused again and scowled at the screen, only finishing her sentence when Tara whipped a spare part at her head. "It found records of a freighter going to and from that sector! And, ow! That hurt!" 

"A freighter? Going there? But why? I thought that system was uninhabited."

"It _is,_" Annika muttered, rubbing at the sore spot on her head as she glanced over at a bewildered Ray. "And whoever went there made sure that no one knew about it either. These records are so deeply buried in the system that it's amazing that my program found it!"

"Who did what now?" Having walked in on the end of Annika's sentence, Chaos couldn't help but send a baffled look at the trio as she tossed her backpack onto the couch.

"Found out that someone's been going to the Qyitoni system," the computer wizard reported. "The last freighter went there last month."

Curiosity peaked, the Blooded human walked over to her best friend and leaned over her shoulder, peering at the screen. "That _is_ interesting. Who sent it? Or requested it?"

"No clue. The record's fragmented; someone went to great lengths to try to destroy this. I _can_ tell you where the funds came from though..." Annika typed in a quick command, then tapped a fingernail against the screen, frowning at the information her tracer program had brought up. "Okay. Now whoever paid for this used a dummy account, but what they obviously didn't know was that every account has at least one tie to some sort of personal records. And with something that cost this much, there's no way that they could have just gotten away with building a fake identity, so while the money was routed through numerous accounts, it all leads back to one person... ah! Bingo! Holder's Adam P. .... holy shit.... Adam P. Evanston."

Chaos jerked, her eyes going wide. "Evanston?!"

The near yell drew Tara and Ray's attentions, and the two gathered around their friends, curious to know what had brought about such a reaction from Chaos. 

"What?" Tara frowned. "What is it?"

"Remember when we told you about the major fight that Chaos' mother had led? The one where she and a bunch of Predators led an attack against a psycho who had been trying to turn the xenomorphs into cybernetic-controlled warriors?" When they both nodded, Annika sighed and slouched a little in dismay. "The wacko's name was Livermore Evanston. And the person who paid for that freighter to take a trip into the Qyitoni system is Adam Evanston."

Ray rose a hand to rake his fingers through his hair. "Damn. So like, psycho-wacko dude had a brother?"

"Or a son," Chaos murmured, her voice trailing off as her mind raced. "But then, why didn't they retake Hunter's Planet? I mean, my mother basically owns the planet by default, because Evanston didn't have any heirs and his companies and associates didn't want anything to do with him after they found out what he had been doing...."

"Well, when you think of it, how could they?" Annika met Chaos' gaze and frowned. "After it was widely known what Evanston had been doing, no one would have stepped up to pick up his scraps. Not when it had been part of a huge scandal. Not to mention hugely illegal and borderlining on planned murder! Don't forget, he had been planning to use them as a means to take over a few worlds. No company in their right mind would want to announce that they had been funding or even associating with the fuckshit."

"So... that means what? That his brother, or son - which frightens me because it means he procreated - stayed low to avoid publicity then... what? Moved to the Qyitoni system and started sending out weird signals?"

Tara nudged Chaos. "Think about it. Your family name's been destroyed, all the money's gone, you lost a brother or father to someone.... and if whoever this is _knew_ what Evanston was planning, then he was looking forward to a part of the take, right? Wouldn't that make someone a little pissed?"

"A little?" Ray shook his head. "Hell, I think it'd make 'im downright livid!"

"Revenge then." Chaos tapped a finger against her chin in thought. "Only they'd have had to know about the Predators to have planned ahead for the trap."

"Maybe dead Evanston sent a message to the still-alive Evanston," Tara suggested, pausing for a moment before shrugging. "Well, I mean, before he turned dead."

Chaos rolled her eyes. "Obviously."

"Sooo... still-alive Evanston found out that his.... uh... family member failed, died a horrible death, and that all the big plans went to Hell with the handbasket carrying all their fortune... blames Machiko for it, and possibly knows about the Preds, and wants revenge?" Annika blinked and looked at Chaos. "That sound right?"

"Yeah.... unfortunately it doesn't paint a pretty picture."

"Hey, excuse the question from the only male here, but are you sure it's not a different Evanston?"

"The chances of a different Evanston being involved in something that caused my father, Chaos' mother and a bunch of Preds to go missing are slim to nil." Annika said, shaking her head as she spoke. "Things just fit into place too well."

Chaos frowned at that, her suspicion rising. "Yeah. They do, don't they?"

"What?"

"Fall into place too well. It's too _easy_.... ah, never mind. I'm babbling. Either way, we have a big piece of the puzzle here to throw at people's feet when we get to Hunter's Planet. Annika, do me a favour and print out those records and accounts, and back the info up on a disk just to be sure."

"Gotcha!"

"Y'know, this is starting to sound like a whole big vengeance thing," Tara mused out loud as she walked back to her table and went back to upgrading Annika's computer. "I mean, still-alive Evanston basically drawing Machiko into a trap, going through all that trouble, but for what? Revenge, duh, but _what?_"

Chaos frowned, her eyes going cold as she looked over at the redhead. "If it was me, I'd want to kill whoever had been responsible for the death of my father or brother. Make them suffer first, then kill them."

"Wait... then, why go through all the trouble of going to an unexplored planet, building God-knows-what, and drawing people into a trap?" Ray blinked over at the two Blooded warriors and made a vague gesture in the air, as if he was trying to swat his confusion aside. "Why not just hire an assassin?"

Annika snickered. "Because Chaos' mum would wipe the floor with the fucker. Probably wanted to catch her off-guard."

"My mother is _never_ off-guard," the raven-haired woman said, her hard gaze softening slightly. "Especially not when she's with a Predator Pack. She's practically one of them, remember? When she's on a Hunt, she's just as deadly as they are. So..."

"So whoever drew her there.... the trap would have to have been really huge. Lotsa backup?"

"Yeah...."

The distant tone of the woman's voice made Tara glance up, frowning in worry as she caught a glimpse of deep concern on her friends face. "Hey. It'll be okay, Chaos. You just see, we'll kick ass with the best of them, right? Chaos, Panic and Disorder always win out!"

The enthusiastic boast brought a smile to her lips as Nyoko nodded slightly in agreement. "Damn straight," she said, her eyes gaining an almost feral glint to them as she stepped around Annika's chair and picked up the Predator gauntlet, her smile turning grim as she slipped it onto her left forearm. Very aware that the others were watching her, she reached into the still open lockbox and took hold of the other gauntlet, taking a moment to remove a bracelet from her right wrist before donning it.

Annika's gaze locked onto Chaos' as the woman popped her right wrist forward, the motion triggering the twin wrist blades in the right forearm band to slide out, extending a good nine inches past her fist, the sleek alien metal gleaming with deadly grace. Dark eyes stared into her green ones, mixed worry and anger and the urge to protect plainly visible to anyone who knew how to read the emotions there as Chaos relaxed her arm, the blades retracting into the gauntlet with a steely wisp of sound. Nodding in understanding, she slid from her chair and headed for the small bedrooms near the back of the warehouse. "I'm gonna pack. Someone scream at me if something interesting happens."

Ray nodded dumbly, still staring at Chaos in awe as she turned to look at him and Tara, a disturbingly cold smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth. "What... what _are_ those?"

"Predator wrist knives," she answered. "I worked hard to earn these. Annika has her own set too. It's all we have left of our training days under Ash'eld'uir's teachings. We couldn't bring the rest of our things with us.... my father.... he didn't approve of how much time we spent with the Packs. That's why he sent me here, because I wasn't acting human enough for him. In the end, that's what caused my folks to break up."

"Damn. That's harsh," Tara murmured, looking up from where she was carefully altering the memory chips on a circuit board. "And stupid."

Chaos shrugged, raising a hand to run her fingers through her short hair as she went to throw herself onto a couch. "I never understood it either. Neither did the Pack, especially Rakur'a and Ash'eld'uir."

"Rakur'a, that's your friend, right?"

Her gaze traveled over to Ray. "Yeah. We were Blooded on the same Hunt. We trained together, learned together, Hunted together.... He, Annika and I were huntsmen, equals, a team...."

Hearing the definite tone of depression in her friend's voice, Tara frowned at her and forced a smile. "Hey, look on the bright side. In a day, you'll be reunited."

"Yeah. Yeah, true. Granted people will be less than impressed. The Preds are big on honour. Stealing a ship and disobeying my father's wishes aren't exactly high up there in the 'honourable things to do' list."

"They can learn to cope," Ray decided with an air of finality. "Else they can eat our warp field when we go save your mum on our own."

That brought a smile to the Blooded human's face. "You're seriously stuck on that thought, aren't you?"

"What can I say? I'm a sucker for excitement."

"Sucker for punishment is more like it," Tara muttered under her breath as she worked, pointedly ignoring the insulted glare Ray shot her. "But in the danger of actually agreeing with Ray.... I say that if they don't want to help us, then the hell with them. We should go on our own and spread some _real_ chaos, panic and disorder on Evanston's ass. He'll learn the hard way why men can never out do a woman when it comes to revenge!"

TBC


	5. Hijacked

_No ownage of Aliens or Predator._   
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Hijacked   
  


Annika sighed as she rifled through her meager belongings, knowing that they had to travel light and thus faced with the stark realization that she would have to leave a lot of her stuff behind. Her computer would be gutted, all the important parts and memory chips removed and stored for future use. Most of their clothes and various nicknacks would be left behind for whomever took over the warehouse after they were gone. But still.... saying goodbye to any part of one's life was never easy. 

Shaking her head to try to push such depressing thoughts aside, she took a few minutes and changed into a more comfortable outfit of blue jeans and her favorite top, the stark white letters of '_Rock_' standing out against the black material of the top while the sheer sleeves were dotted with various splashes of colour. The sleeves fell well beyond her elbow, and she frowned a little in regret as she used a pocket knife to cut them down, making sure the material didn't get caught on her own set of gauntlets as she slipped them on. The familiar weight of them made her smile, memories of when she and Nyoko had been a part of a Pack drifting back to her. Those were good times. She only hoped that after this fiasco was over and done with that they'd get a chance to enjoy such times again. 

Her backpack full, she bent to finish tying the laces to her black boots, then straightened, taking a last long look at the room that had been hers for the past year before grabbing her bag and turning her back on her past. 

The low murmur of voices greeted her as she rejoined the others, and she gave Chaos a soft smile as she set her bag next to her friend's, seeing the shadow of worry in the other woman's eyes. Despite her sometimes cold attitude towards her parents, Annika knew that her friend loved her mother dearly, and this new turn of events not only had her deeply worried about her mother, but about the friends that were planning to accompany her on her self-appointed mission. 

A warning knock on the door made her jerk her gaze towards the form that strolled into the building, and she grinned in relief when she saw Mav leading another person into the warehouse. Bright multicolored hair adorned the new arrival, the shoulder-length locks pinned up in a messy yet oddly tasteful manner, only a few short wisps of bangs hung loose in front of chocolate brown eyes. Purple boots and pants along with a bright pink blouse seemed to be the outfit of the moment, and Annika chuckled softly to herself as she shook her head in amused exasperation. The ever exuberant Sypher certainly knew how to make herself memorable. 

"Annikaaaa! Yo! I heard you were, like, lookin' for me!" The bundle of bright boundless energy grinned at the group as she set her neon blue backpack on the floor, opening her arms wide to gather a gaping Ray in an energetic hug before going to repeat the gesture to the others. "Oh! I _missed_ you guys _so much!_" 

Chaos quirked an eyebrow at the now present computer genius, her smirk growing at the woman's choice of clothes. "We missed you too, Sypher. I see that you're keeping up your attempts to blind us." 

"Oh, you!" Sypher gave the raven-haired woman a hug, then attached herself to Annika, grinning joyfully. "Like, you cannot believe how _happy_ I am to see you! Those stupid cops are really getting on my nerves! A gal can't get any peace on this stupid planet! I mean, _geez_, all I did was hack into the military's computers and steal some top-secret files. Talk about being touchy!" 

Tara rolled her eyes. "Oh, yes, we can't _possibly _imagine _why_ they'd be mad." 

"I _know!_ Isn't it annoying?" 

Deciding not to answer that - truthfully Sypher always had a knack for annoying her to the point of homicide - Tara turned her attention to a dumbfounded Mav and poked her in the ribs. "Don't stare directly at her, it's bad for your eyes." 

"_That's_ our computer genius?" 

"Yup. Scary, isn't it?" 

Maverick paled. "Shit. We're all gonna die." 

"That's the spirit!" Grinning, Tara took hold of her friend's arm and pulled her over to her work table. "C'mere and help me finish putting this computer together, would ya? I want to finish another little project I was working on before we have to leave." 

Oblivious to the two who were avoiding her by turning their full attention to piecing together Annika's laptop, Sypher beamed at the others. "So, what's the haps? Heard it was urgent." 

Ray glanced at Chaos as Annika gave Sypher a quick run down of what had happened, leaning closer to the raven-haired woman as he whispered to her. "Are we actually bringing her along?" 

"I don't think we have a choice. We need her help on this." 

"Well, yeah, but...." He eyed the one in question dubiously. 

"I know," Chaos whispered, following his gaze warily. "Believe me, I know." 

"Oh!" The cry preceded Sypher as she flung herself over to Chaos and hugged her. "Oh, they took your _mom?!_ That's so cruel! Well! We're not going to stand for this, now are we?" 

"Uh, no?" 

"That's right!" Pulling away, the energetic hacker held Chaos at arms length and beamed at her. "So don't you worry! We're gonna kick some wacko butt!" 

Annika snickered at the pleading look that Chaos shot her and carefully maneuvered Sypher away from the other woman. "C'mon, I'll show you what I've found out already. You did bring your own portable computer, right?" 

"Duh, Panic. I never go anywhere without it. I also brought along a few programs that might come in handy, and one mega-virus if we really need to create a huge distraction." 

"Great! We weren't sure if you were gonna make it or not, so Tara went and swiped some parts for me. This way, at least we'll have extra if something happens." 

"Mm, good plan." All business now, Sypher plunked down in front of the computer and went to work, curiously going through everything that Annika had found. "Wow, talk about your conspiracies. Whoever hid these account records really did a good job. How'd you find these?" 

Preening with pride, Annika leaned on the edge of the desk and grinned. "Wrote m'self a new program. It sends a worm into the system and uses the system's own resources and networks to search for the info I need. Whoever tries to trace the program will end up at a dead end too, it'll lead them to one of the networked computers." 

"That's simply brilliant! We'll have to trade programs soon! I've got a few new goodies you'd like. Anyway, this looks like it'll be easy. Hacking into the Spaceport system I mean. Like, we could even do it remotely." 

"That's the plan," Chaos said as she braved the storm and joined them, leaning on the back of Sypher's chair as she spoke. "Maverick already knows which ship will be perfect for our needs, so all we have to do is cripple security, create a diversion that'll keep the law-enforcers busy and we're home free." 

Sypher's eyes brightened, a rather evil smile spreading over her lips. "A diversion, eh?" 

Before Chaos could ask what she was scheming, Tara drew her attention by flinging a microchip at her head. "Hey, ow! What?" 

"I made you two something!" Grinning, Tara finished buckling the boots she now wore, then walked out where her friends could see her. "Boots, right? Haha! Wrong! They're also..." She crouched and pressed two hidden switches near the ankle of the boots, hearing Chaos' and Annika's happy cries when a row of wheels sprouted from the soles of them. 

"Roller blades!" Near giddy in delight, Annika ran over to the redhead and hugged her. "Thank you! I thought I'd have to leave mine here! Oh, this is so cool! How's it work? Are they all-terrain or--" 

"Whoa, whoa, easy!" Laughing, Maverick waved at the improvised footwear with a screwdriver. "When the wheels retract, they turn onto their sides and let the compartment they're stored in slide closed. Tara, raise a foot, will ya?" She grabbed her friend's ankle and pointed out the various improvements, ignoring the wide-eyed expression on the redheads face as Tara struggled to keep her balance. "See, the wheels themselves are pretty thin, only three quarters of an inch thick and one and a half inches circumference, but that'll give you better maneuvering, and it makes sure that the sole of the boot doesn't have to be three inches thick to hide them. And then when they're retracted, like so, there's no evidence that this isn't just a plain boot. Even the treads are perfectly re-sealed and treated to keep them waterproof." 

"Ack!" Losing the fight, Tara yelped as she fell, landing hard on her butt with a curse. "Ow, shit.... Right, like she said. And the hinges and so forth are all chemical treated titanium. You'd have to go through hell itself for these to break." 

Chaos grinned and reached down to help Tara to her feet. "You're spoiling us." 

"Yeah well, I need a reason to get on your good side since I want to bring my skateboard." 

"Done and done! How many pairs of these things did you make?" 

"Enough for everyone," Tara smiled as she regained a vertical position. "I've been working on them for months. I've even got a pair for big foot over there." 

Ray scowled at her and looked up from the star chart he was studying. "I resent that!" 

~*~ 

The bright suns of Gilnor were just beginning their descent behind the horizon when the Spaceport erupted in a flurry of activity. Civilians and law-enforcers alike poured from the building as alarms cut through the air, thick white smoke billowing out of the main entrance, spreading out into a fog that served to lessen everyone's vision. The computer's within were no better than their human counterparts, various systems crashing and fluctuating like mad, security protocols failing faster than the extensive security programs could compensate for. 

Thus it wasn't overly surprising that the six snickering forms that slinked through the chaos went unhindered, their Roller blades gliding silently over the ground as the loud cries of panic and confusion from outside muffled any sounds their entrance made. 

Maverick grinned over at the gleeful Tara and smirked. "Well, at least now I know why you three call yourselves, Chaos, Panic and Disorder." 

"Fitting, no?" Annika cradled a basic scanner in her right hand, using it's short-ranged abilities to scramble any cameras or independently powered security grids. "We're coming up on docking hanger R-91." 

Chaos peered through the smokescreen and rose a hand to muffle a cough. "Good. The environmental systems should be resetting themselves in five minutes. Mav, that enough time to get us airborne?" 

"Plenty!" Knowing the drill - they had rehearsed this numerous times throughout the afternoon - Maverick led the way through the smoke, dimly aware of Sypher's complaints about the smoke ruining her complexion as she bladed into the hanger and over to their target. 

The ship she had chosen for their fiasco was small, but large enough that they wouldn't be forced into tight quarters. Dazzlingly shiny, it's cockpit situated on the underside while the engines were set at the ship's bow. Its overall shape was nastily missile-like, adding to it's already deadly appearance. Her research had helped her decision as well, liking that it was fitted with enhanced laser cannons and sniper-torpedoes. Contrary to the ships deceivingly bulky form, it was able to maneuver on a dime, it's Plasma T-Drives capable of not only warp speeds, but able to handle tight-quarter fights. Unlike most vessels in their time, the ship didn't run solely on computers, it required one pilot, one copilot, one gunner, and one navigator, with enough room for six more people to travel comfortably on the ship. It was an older model, true, but it's age was deceiving. Just like her. 

Sypher sped past her, a blur of colour, and Mav struggled to keep up with the hacker, arriving at the ships hatch just as the other woman hooked her computer up to the hatch's security pad and ran a decryption program. "Shouldn't take too long," the hacker announced, grinning cheerfully seconds later. "Done! The ship's, like _totally_,ours!" 

Tara drew up next to Mav as the ramp lowered, joining the pilot in eyeing Sypher warily before retracting the wheels on her boots and heading up the ramp. "C'mon, Mav! We gotta hurry. Annika says the bug she put into the Spaceport's computers will only hold out against it's anti-virus and firewalls for another three minutes!" 

While the three quickly scrambled onto the ship, Chaos joined Annika and Ray at the entrance to the hanger, pressing herself against a wall to try to hide from potential guards as the trio kept an eye out for trouble. As a low whine of starting engines came from the ship, Chaos rose a hand and lightly touched the communicator earpiece she wore, the extended mic brushing against her cheek. "Ray? Go join the others. Annika and I can handle this." 

A crackle of static preceded the dubious voice. "You sure?" 

"Yeah. Go." A quick glance behind her confirmed that he had obeyed, and she nodded once to herself before darting over to join Annika. "How pressed for time are we?" 

"Pretty bad. Environmental control is already siphoning out the smoke from those smoke bombs that Tara set off, and security details are starting sweeps of the 'port. We've got two, _maybe_ three minutes." 

"Shit. Mav? Yo, you copy?" 

The blue-haired pilot frowned at the worry that came through on the comm. "Yeah. What's up?" 

"Gonna havta hurry. Trouble. ETA two minutes." 

"Copy that." Her gaze cut across the controls, the on-board computer quickly going through a checklist of running systems as the engines and power core came online. "Tara, take co-pilot. Sypher, navigational." Footsteps behind her drew a portion of her attention, and she smiled as she met Ray's gaze. "Hey there, macho, go back down to the aft gunner turret, we might get company." 

"Right!" Not slowing his pace at all, he dropped his bag, spun around, and bolted down the way he had come. 

A quick glance at the read out in front of her lifted her tension slightly as she opened the comm line again. "Chaos, time to go! We're locked and loaded." 

"On our way." Hearing rapid footsteps nearing them, Chaos grabbed Annika's arm and propelled them towards the still lowered ramp, ducking out of reflex when a shout sounded from behind them. Shooting a glance over her shoulder afforded her with the barest warning before she threw herself aside, the gunshot barely missing her as she and Annika scrambled up the ramp. Another shot ricocheted into the ship as she slammed a fist onto the ramp controls, waiting until it had closed and sealed before yelling into the communicator. "Maverick! Go, go, go!" 

The whine from the ship's engines rose in pitch as they gained power, the backlash forcing the gathered security guards to back away as the ship rose from the ground. Orders for aerial support were already cutting across the Spaceport's frequencies when the aft gun turret took aim and blasted the hanger doors into scrap, ploughing the way for the ship's escape. 

"Everybody hang on!" A trickle of sweat trailed down Mav's forehead as she pushed the ship to it's limits, sharply ascending at thrice the recommended speed as she fought to escape the planets' atmosphere before they were intercepted. She was dimly aware of Tara yelling out something about internal dampeners and hull micro fractures, the scream of the engines and the heavy rattling of the ship as it was buffeted by the vicious treatment it was being subjected to almost completely drowning her out. 

The ship rocked then, a completely unrelated buck from her flying, and she quickly punched the internal commline to the aft gunner. "Ray! We're being shot at!" 

"No shit! I'm working on it!" 

Sypher clung to the side of her chair, her nails digging into the worn padding. "Course is, like totally, laid in! But, like, we've got company! Six interceptors. They're, like, trying to cut us off!" 

"Enough with the 'likes' already!" Mav shot back as she tried to avoid the numerous shots being sent their way, trying to keep them alive while the hyper drive worked itself up to full power. 

Heart pounding against her ribs, Tara frantically rerouted power from unneeded systems to boost their shields, keeping her attention divided between the hyper drive's readout and the numerous warning lights that were flashing at her. The ship bucked again, but she couldn't help grinning as Ray's triumphant whoop came through over the comm as one of their attackers exploded, various bits of it's hull bouncing off of their shields. 

As a particularly gutsy move by Maverick drew a shriek of fear from Sypher, a low warble from the computer announced that the drives had built up to full power, eliciting a victory cry from Tara. "Mav! Punch it!" 

Space blurred around them as the hyper drive kicked in, the stars and ships that were all around them swirling into a kaleidoscope of light before they were all pushed back into their seats by sheer inertia. The internal dampeners compensated a moment later, leaving the three on the bridge to heave huge sighs of relief as they left their attackers far behind. 

Hands shaking, Sypher reached out and thumbed a comm line, her voice resonating through the ship. "Like, is everyone okay?" 

Slowly, responses came in, and while Ray was still in the throes of excitement, both Chaos and Annika reported that while they both agreed that Maverick was insane, they were unharmed and heading for the bridge. 

Once everyone had gathered together again, Maverick turned a wicked grin on all of them and reclined in her chair, propping her feet up on the controls. "So! When is this trip gonna start getting exciting?"   
  
  
  
  
  


TBC   
  



	6. Homebound

_See previous chapters for disclaimer._   


Homebound   
  
  
  


"Nyoko?" 

The soft call drew the raven-haired woman's attention away from the view port, her gaze leaving the stars she had been staring at and instead falling on the worried green gaze of her best friend. She truthfully didn't know how long she had been standing there, staring, lost in her thoughts and memories, but apparently it had been long enough that it had brought the person that she thought of as a sister to her side. 

Sighing, she forced a weak smile, then gave up and turned her eyes back to the stars. "I'm alright." 

"Liar." 

"Well, yes." 

Annika joined her, standing next to her as she followed Chaos' gaze out of the window. "We're almost there." 

"I know." 

Frowning at the toneless answer, the hacker glanced at her friend, then leaned over and bumped shoulders with her, sensing that her friend had pulled away and retreated within herself. "Don't lock me out, Nyoko. Talk to me." 

A sigh left her lips as she closed her eyes, shaking her head a little. "I'm not looking forward to seeing him again." 

Annika knew who 'him' was. Chaos and her father had never seen eye to eye since he had sent her to Gilnor three years ago. They had rarely gotten along before hand, but his decision had simply widened the already gaping rift between then. "Ah. And you're worried about your mother." It wasn't a question. 

"Yeah. I mean, I know she's strong, both physically and mentally.... but...." 

"Hey." Annika rested a hand on her best-friend's shoulder and turned her to face her, smiling at her reassuringly. "Listen to me. We're gonna get her back. We're all with you, Nyoko. I'm with you. Just like old times. You an me against the universe. There's nothing your father can do to stop us, even if he is in charge of the military presence on Hunter's when your mother's gone. We'll go there, see if they'll listen, and if they don't, screw them! We don't need their permission anymore! Right?" 

A more genuine smile graced Chaos' lips as she nodded, glad to have Annika by her side, as always. "Right." They clasped hands in an almost ritualistic manner, then drew apart and returned to looking at the stars. "So.... what are we planning on swiping from the armory on Hunters?" 

Annika grinned. "Anything and everything that we can carry." 

"Kewl." 

~*~ 

Tara yawned and stretched her arms over her head, arching her back slightly before relaxing and slumping back into the pilot's chair. It had been almost fifteen hours since they had left Gilnor, and while she had been excited about the future, fifteen hours of boredom tended to act like a bucket of cold water on upraised spirits. Mav had taken first watch on the bridge while the rest of them had gone off into one of the quarters to plan out their next moves once they were on Hunter's Planet. However, excitement had quickly worn off, and they had split up to entertain themselves for most of the trip, each agreeing to take turns manning the bridge while others went to catch up on some well needed rest. 

A lazy glance in the direction of the navigational control terminal told her that they had another hour before they would be forced to drop out of hyper space and continue on impulse drives, and she knew that the moment they did drop out of the jump, the keen sensor satellites guarding the sector around Hunter's Planet would spot them. Their only trump card when that happened was Chaos, after all, she was the daughter of the person who practically owned the planet. After that, they'd be flying by the seat of their pants, as it were. She had a feeling that it would not be a friendly reunion between Chaos and her father. 

Her own family wasn't overly important to her. Even since she had turned fifteen, her parents had seemed disinterested in all that she did. She had always been independent, and faced with parents that were always too busy to bother with her only strengthened that independence. Tara wondered when, or if, they would find the goodbye note she had left for them, taped to the fridge amongst the calendars and appointment slips that adorned it. A part of her mourned the relationship that she never had a chance to have with her parents, while another, the more fiery part that had kept her going these last few years, reminded her that they had had their chance, and that she simply couldn't waste her life away mourning over something that could never be. 

Footsteps from behind her made her glance over her shoulder at her new company, and she smirked a little in greeting as Ray dropped down into the co-pilots chair. "Hey." 

"Hey." He fell silent for a moment, content to stare out at the nothingness of space for a few heartbeats before turning to her again. "You okay?" 

"Mmhm. Just thinking." 

"Dangerous pastime that." 

"Yea." She trailed off, then folded her arms over her chest, rubbing the sudden chill out of her bare arms while she wished she had brought something warmer than just her favorite tee shirts. "You nervous?" 

He shrugged and leaned back in the chair. "A little. You?" 

"Nah. Anxious is more like it. I've been dying back at Gilnor. There's nothing there, it's all the same boring stuff. I miss _living,_ ya know? I want to feel _alive_, like there's a point to being here." 

"I know the feeling," Ray agreed, turning his head to gaze over at her, noting that her blue gaze was fixed on the stars that still blurred around them. "But still, this is going above and beyond our usual escapades. The most we did before was steal speeders and race across the meadows near the outskirts of town. There's a difference between looking for excitement and being suicidal." 

She frowned. "Is that what you think? That this is suicidal?" 

"I.... don't know." Telling the truth was always better than masking his opinions when he was talking with her. "But this is some deep shit, Tara. We're over our heads here." 

Silence fell over them when she didn't immediately respond, and it was a few minutes before she turned her gaze to him. "Chaos and Annika are very important to me, Ray. More than you know. They're like my sisters, the real family I never had. They've saved me loads of times, even from myself. I trust them. When we're over our heads, they'll let us know." She paused for a moment, then looked away. "You didn't have to get involved in this." 

"How can you say that?!" Anger thickened his voice as he glared at her, meeting her surprised gaze. "You think I'd just let my best-friends run into God-only-knows what kind of danger? Just like that? Fuck, Tara, you know me better than that! I'd _never_ turn my back on you! Never!" 

She shivered at the emotion in his eyes, and glanced away, feeling a blush stain her cheeks. "I'm sorry, Ray. I didn't mean it like that. It's just.... I'm worried about them. Annika and Chaos. I've known them for years, and I've never seen them afraid before, not until they got that message about their folks. And I want to help them, but I don't know how." 

His anger abated at her admission, and he sighed as he reached over and tucked a lock of her hair behind her left ear. "You're doing fine so far," he murmured reassuringly. "They know they can count on you for help if they need it. Just knowing that they have your friendship and loyalty helps them, can't you see that?" 

Her worry dimmed a little as she glanced over at him, a smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth. "When'd you get so smart?" 

"Eh, who knows. Maybe hanging around all of you women forced my brain to evolve or something," he joked as he pulled away and grinned. "It'd have to, y'know, in order to keep up with all of you." 

"There's a miracle all in itself." A rather mischievous smile replaced the smirk as she met his amused gaze. "A man growing a brain. Scientists around the Universe will be stunned. Stunned, I tell you!" 

Before he could shoot back an equally taunting reply, an insistent beeping sounded from the sensors, drawing her attention away from their friendly game as she straightened and tried to figure out what was wrong. The result of her brief consult of the computer made her eyes widen, and she fumbled for the comm line, her voice echoing through the corridors. "Chaos? I think you'd better get up here." 

Curious and a little wary, Ray took a quick glance at her controls. "What? What is it?" he asked, glancing back at Chaos and Annika as they burst onto the bridge. 

"Sensors just picked up another ship a light year ahead of us and closing fast," Tara reported as Annika went to navigation while Chaos took Ray's spot. "The readings are weird. The sensors can't seem to keep a full lock on the other ship, it's like it's got a cloak or something." 

Quick to act, Chaos sent Ray to the aft gun turret, then glanced at Tara. "Take us out of hyper space and raise shields. Annika, reroute sensors to your terminal, that'll leave Tara free to deal with the flying bit while I handle the forward guns." 

"Gotcha," the hacker nodded, her fingers flying over the keypad. "I've got sensors up but I still can't seem to get a full lock on the ship. It's definitely got some sort of cloaking field. Might be the yautja." 

"'Might'?" Tara echoed as they dropped out of hyper space, the ship lurching slightly before resuming it's smooth flight. "Where the hell are we anyway?" 

"Five point two light years from Hunter's Planet," Annika reported, raising her gaze from the screen to look over at the other Blooded human. "A little far out for a patrol ship." 

"Yeah. I know." Steeling herself for the worse, Chaos stared out of the main view port as the other ship dropped out of hyper space, and a sigh of relief left her lips when she saw that it was indeed a yautja ship, the odd shaped vessel bringing a smile to her face. "Okay, now all we have to hope for is that they don't kill us." 

Tara snorted. "You're just full of good news, aren't you?" 

Rolling her eyes, Chaos opened a transmission channel to the other ship and took a breath. "This is Nyoko Sakaen'i Noguchi," she announced, making sure to add the yautja name that Ash'eld'uir had given her the day she had become one of his students. "Identify yourselves." 

There was a tense moment of silence before a response came through, the voice growling slightly with a thick otherworldly accent despite the perfectly understandable English. "Pride, young Sakaen'i. This is Gar'essar. You have been greatly missed." 

She smiled happily. "Honor, Leader. It's good to be home again. We've come with new information about my mothers disappearance. None of it is good news, unfortunately, but it certainly explains a lot of what happened." 

There was a thoughtful rumble from the other end of the transmission. "We will escort you back then. Pride." 

"Honor." The almost ritual greeting ended, she cut transmission and grinned over at Annika, who had the same gleeful look on her face. "We're going home!" 

The enthusiasm of her friends was infectious, and Tara let herself be caught up in it as she quickly altered course to follow the other ship, accompanying it into hyper space once more. "Man, oh, man! This is gonna be great! Who was that, anyway? Do you know him? How'd he know you?" 

Laughing at Tara's excited questions, Annika reached up and touched her Mark. "Gar'essar used to be Ash'eld'uir's second in command. We all knew each other in that Pack. He's probably sending a message ahead telling people that we're back. I wonder if we'll have a welcoming committee?" 

Chaos grinned and clicked her tongue piercing against her teeth. "It'll be memorable at least, I can promise you that. Tara, get on the comm and get everyone up here. We've got almost half an hour before we land, that should be just enough time to give you lot a crash course on how to deal with the yautja without getting yourselves killed." 

Sarcasm practically dripped from Tara's reply. "Oh _goody._" 

~*~ 

In the end, the only 'memorable' thing about their landing was Maverick's near collision with a building due to Tara leaning forward to point out the view port at the yautja ship that had landed in a grove of trees, obscuring Mav's line of sight as she did so. 

Smacks were exchanged, and in the end, Chaos, Ray, Sypher and Annika left them to duel it out while they made their way to the lowered ramp, their backpacks containing their only belongings slung over one shoulder as they exited the ship and walked out into bright sunshine and crisp clean air. 

Grinning, Chaos threw her head back and let the warm breeze play with her hair, lifting her face to the sun as she luxuriated in being home. It wasn't until Annika poked her in the ribs that she cracked an eye open to look at her, seeing an identical look of excitement on her friends face as the hacker grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the edge of the platform. 

"Damn, Chaos. You never told us about this place being so huge!" Eyes wide, Ray followed the two women on automatic, dimly aware that Sypher was staying close to him as he struggled to take in everything at once. In the end, he was forced to give up, deciding instead that as soon as he had some free time, he could explore the gorgeous city that lay before him. "When we have free time, you have _got_ to give us a tour of this place!" 

Yelps came from behind them then, and he turned to smile at Maverick and Tara as they ran out of the ship, the ramp closing after them as they rejoined the group. 

"You could have bloody waited for us!" Maverick grumbled, glaring at Ray accusingly. 

"You two were busy," Sypher replied with a smile. "We didn't want to wait for you to stop hitting each other." 

Tara rolled her eyes and caught up with Chaos and Annika, grinning as she came up between them and threw her arms around their shoulders. "Sooo. When do we get the tour? Better yet, when do I get to meet these friends of yours, hmm?" 

"Sooner than you think," Annika said, raising an arm to point ahead, where a shimmer of air was just barely visible to the naked eye. 

"Eh? I don't see anyth–" She cut herself off with a gasp as what could only be a Predator seemingly appeared from thin air, and it was then that she realized that it had obviously been using the same 'shift suit' that had allowed her to sneak into the complex back on Gilnor. Startled, she released her two friends and tried to keep herself from gawking at the three meter tall alien, belatedly realizing that it looked capable of ripping her in half if it so desired. "Uh.... which one is that?" 

"Gar'essar," Annika whispered to her with a smile. "Stop worrying, everything will be fine." 

Chaos chuckled softly, then turned to the yautja and bowed her head slightly. "Pride. You'll have to forgive our less than graceful landing. We had a bit of trouble." 

A muffled snarling growl that passed as yautja laughter came from behind the facemask as the Predator returned the bow. "Understandable. Welcome home, Sakaen'i. And you too, Katric'ta. I see that you two are still inseparable." 

"Of course," Annika grinned at the sound of her yautja name and jerked a thumb at Chaos. "Someone has to keep her out of trouble." 

Rolling her eyes, Chaos let that little barb go, and instead turned to introduce her friends. "Gar'essar, these are my friends. Tara, Ray, Sypher, Maverick, meet Gar'essar, one of the Leaders of the many local Packs." 

It was Tara who got over her shock first, regaining enough of her wits to mirror Chaos' earlier bow. "It's an honor to meet you.... uh, sir." 

Annika leaned towards her. "Leader," she corrected softly. 

"Right. Leader." Tara chuckled nervously and looked up into the expressionless mask. "Sorry, 'bout that." 

Wanting to get back to the reason they were here, Chaos turned back to the Predator and frowned. "The next group hasn't left for the Qyitoni system yet, has it?" 

"No." Gesturing for them to follow, he turned and led the way back towards the hidden ship. "Your father has sent a security team to detain you, however I have orders from Ash'eld'uir to bring you to the human compound, where he and the next team are gathering to leave within the hour." 

"Talk about arriving in the nick of time," Ray muttered. "If we had gotten here any later...." He trailed off, not wanting to think about what might have happened. 

Maverick shook her head slightly and looked at Chaos. "Looks like you were right. They really don't know. But why's your dad trying to keep you from helping?" 

"It's.... a long story," the raven haired woman frowned. "Suffice it to say that my father an I have never seen eye-to-eye. Gar'essar, will we make it in time?" 

The Leader glanced back at her, studying the human that had once been a part of the yautja Packs, easily recognizing the determined expression she wore. He imagined that the altercation between her and her father was going to be interesting at best. "We will not miss them, Sakaen'i," he told her as he led them into his ship, trusting them to follow as he tapped his communicator and barked out an order for the pilot to get the ship into the air. 

Annika moved over to Chaos as the ramp slammed shut behind her, reaching out to lightly touch her friend's elbow. "Nyoko. We need a plan. I don't think your father is going to want to listen to us, especially considering how we stole a ship to get here." 

Very aware of Gar'essar's gaze on her, Chaos frowned and glanced over at her friends, her attention centering on Sypher and the laptop that she knew the hacker had hidden in her backpack. "I think I have an idea. Gar'essar.... I need a favor."   
  
  
  
  
  


TBC 


	7. Chaotic Reunions

_No ownage of Aliens or Predator._   
  


Chaotic Reunions   
  


Half an hour after takeoff, the cloaked yautja ship silently landed a hundred yards away from the main entrance to the hidden base where all security matters for Hunter's Planet were conducted, and where all vessels coming and going from the planet were detained for mandatory screenings. 

Gar'essar turned away from the navigator as the other Predator informed his Leader that they had landed without being detected and turned his gaze onto the six humans who were standing near the entrance to his bridge, inwardly marvelling at how far both species had come in the years since their tentative truce had been born. In another time, he would have Hunted these humans, these _oomans_, and enjoyed taking their skulls as his trophies. Now though, he found himself proud to work alongside them, especially the two Blooded oomans who stood before him now. 

"Sakaen'i, you do realise that this is highly unorthodox." 

She shrugged, shooting a glance back at her friends. "Orthodox methods never did work well with us. Besides, I'm fairly certain that things are not going to go smoothly with my father. He's not going to listen, not willingly anyway. This is the only thing I could come up with on such short notice." 

"Either way," Tara interceeded with a grin. "It's one of her best non-destructive plans yet." 

"Oi, as if you should talk," Annika muttered, playfully elbowing her in the ribs. 

Chaos snickered and reached behind her to grasp the gun that was hidden under the hem of her blood red tank top, checking the safety before handing it to Ray. "I'm counting on you and Maverick to watch Sypher's back while she hacks the system. Once they figure out what's going on, I don't know how much time you'll have before they track you down." She turned to eye Maverick warily, noticing the holster and gun the other woman still wore. "Just, _try_ not to go for the lethal shots." 

"Right. Busted kneecaps all around." Grinning, Mav gave Chaos a mock salute and winked. "No problemo, boss. We'll keep Valley Girl over there nice and alive for ya." 

Sypher folded her arms over her chest and glared. "Like, I _resent_ that!" 

Ray winced and looked at Chaos. "You owe us, you do realise this, yes?" 

"Yeah, whatever." Rolling her eyes, she turned her attention back to the Leader who was watching them in obvious amusement. "You're sure you can get us in? This could get you into no end of trouble." 

Gar'essar chuckled slightly. "If anyone asks, I can truthfully say that I was aiding a fellow Leader." He waited until she had recovered from her shock at the title before continuing. "However, while I can easily guide you into the compound and lead you to the meeting place, I cannot help you once you confront Ash'eld'uir and the others." 

"You won't have to," Annika chipped in before Chaos could answer. "Just get us in, we'll handle the rest." 

Nearly bouncing in place, Tara chuckled and rubbed her hands together, oblivious to the odd look some of the Preds were giving her. "This is gonna be so great!" 

"You're insane," Ray told her, sighing in exasperation when she merely grinned at him. "Okaaaay. Anyway, Chaos? How long are we gonna have to hold the fort?" 

She frowned and glanced from Gar'essar to Annika. "What do you think? Fifteen minutes, max?" 

"To barge in there, try not to get shot, tell people off and have a yelling-fest with your father?" When Chaos nodded, the pink-haired hacker shrugged. "Better make it twenty." 

"Y'know, it won't be much of a problem," Sypher added, reaching up to curl a loose lock of her multicoloured hair around her right index finger. "Like, as soon as I hack into the system, I'll, like, take control of the security protocols. Y'all just have to keep people busy until I, like, find the right files that control things." 

Mav grimaced. "If you say 'like' one more time, I'll smack you into next week." 

"_Geez,_ touch_y._" 

Chaos sighed heavily and rose a hand to massage her suddenly aching temples. "Annikaaaa." 

"Right! Okay. Time to go." Recognising the dangerous lack of patience that Chaos was beginning to show, Annika spun around and herded Maverick, Sypher and Ray off the bridge, ignoring their annoyed protests as she literally shoved them down the corridor. 

"Y'know, sometimes I wonder about the people we end up with," Tara commented, blinking innocently when Chaos groaned and shook her head. "What?" 

~*~ 

Ash'eld'uir hid his impatience with years of practice as he listened to Ned Sanchez retell the details about the failed scout mission in which twelve of their combined soldiers had gone missing, glad for the facemask he was wearing. He was certain that after years of working alongside humans, that the gathered oomans would easily spot the signs of his growing annoyance. He never could understand their unending need to plan out every little detail of a mission, picking apart every potential situation that might occur. True, he knew that a fair amount of caution was warrented, but to waste such time by dwelling on 'what if's' seemed such a waste. 

Still, he made a point to try to warn them of potential problems with their neverending plans, after all, a Leader's merit was weighed heavily on how his Pack performed, even if such a Pack was mostly comprised of oomans. Granted, Ned Sanchez held a good amount of his respect. The ooman Leader had proven himself many times, both in training procedures and in various altercations throughout the years. Machiko had certainly chosen well by taking him as her mate. Though Ash'eld'uir still couldn't understand Ned's attitude towards his daughter. That a father didn't approve of his child succeeding in a Pack and in a Blooding rite plainly baffled him. Even after almost ten years of dealing with these oomans, he found that there was still much that he had yet to understand about them. 

His thoughts turned to Sakaen'i as he half-listened to the mission briefing, hoping that Gar'essar had managed to reach them before the ooman law-inforcers had. In all truth, knowing that Ned had sent guards out to detain her from potentially joining them on their rescue mission had angered and confused him. She had been one of his best ooman students thus far; denying her the right to join them was akin to a slap in the face, especially since it had been her own sire that was trying to stop her. 

The door to the conference room burst open then, banging against the opposite wall as the object of his thoughts stalked into the room, flanked by two others. Twitching a mandible, he altered the vision mode of his facemask until he was able to see as the oomans did, rumbling softly in surprise when he saw her. 

She had obviously matured, she was a little taller than he remembered, more lithe, her stance confident, challenging and defiant all at once. She wore usual ooman clothing, black pants and boots along with a blood red sleeveless top. Her hair was shorter, and he spotted numerous decorations on her ears as well as what seemed to be a tattoo on her right shoulder. But it was her eyes that he found interesting. Gone was the innocence of youth that he had seen in her all those years ago. It had been replaced with the cunning and intelligence of a true warrior, but they also showed the shadows of one who had lived through many hardships, hardships that had not left her unscarred. 

He did a double take when he saw Katric'ta. While she had the same look of her as, Sakaen'i, she had obviously chosen to rebel in her own way. Pink colour had replaced the previous brown of her hair, her old meticulous appearance blown to the winds, replaced by torn jeans and a black top that left her stomach bare, her eyes a little more wild, her demeanor a little more battle hardened. She stood by Sakaen'i's side, proud and defiant, the two of them as inseperable as they had been when he had first met them, and he arched a brow ridge when he saw a tattoo on her right shoulder as well. 

Both wore their gauntlets, both were tensed, obviously prepared for the worst, and it wasn't until the third woman stepped forward to stand by Sakaen'i's other side that he took notice of her. Bright red hair contrasted with the black pants and dark green top she wore, the sleeveless shirt revealing yet another tattoo, also on her right shoulder. A pact they had made, perhaps? This one mirrored the wariness that the other two projected, yet there was a sort of anticipation in her eyes, a look that showed how she thrived for situtations like these. She was grinning, and for a brief moment, he toyed with the notion that she might be a little insane. 

The dead silence coming from Ned and the two other oomans drew his attention once more, and he frowned at the anger that Ned was projecting, both in body language and in his glare. This, he knew, did not bode well. 

Chaos felt long buried rage rise in her as she glared at her father where he stood near the head of the long table, papers and flight maps strewn across the table's surface. She knew she had to regain a semblance of calm, but at the moment she wanted nothing more than to leap over there and deck him. A light touch on her left elbow made her glance over into worried light blue eyes, and she sighed a little as some of her anger drained from her. "I'm alright, Tara." 

"Yeah right," her friend whispered. "You look like you want to rip his throat out. Your dad, then, huh?" 

"Yeah...." 

"Hmm." Frowning, Tara shifted her stance and folded her arms over her chest, staring over at the man she now knew to be Chaos' father. "So! You're the idiot I've heard so much about. Forgive me if I don't show you much respect, from what I've heard, you don't deserve any. Ah, ah, ah! No touching of the guns. Cuz you're Chaos' dad, an all, I won't kill you, but I'm not above throttling you." 

Annika grimaced and glanced over at her. "Tara. Don't. Let her handle this." 

Ned frowned at the trio of women, his gaze centering on his daughter, not liking the emotions he saw in her eyes. "Nyoko--" 

"Stop it right there," she growled, eyes narrowing. "Only a select few people can get away with calling me 'Nyoko', and you're not one of them. You lost that privaledge a long time ago. I'm, Chaos, to you. _Sanchez_." 

Ash'eld'uir hissed at her sheer disrespect, drawing her gaze for a moment before she glanced away again, and he growled at her in his native tongue, knowing she could understand him. "Sakaen'i! He is still your sire!" 

She looked at him again, her glare softening as she responded in the same language, glad at least that she still remembered how to speak in the odd language of the yautja. "Ash'eld'uir. Leader, please. Stay out of this. I'll explain everything to you later, I swear it. Just stay out of this." 

A low growl escaped him as he stared at her, trying to deduce exactly what she was up to. In the end, his trust of her won out, and he nodded to her, taking a step back to watch what was going to unfold. This was between sire and child, and until he knew all the facts, he decided that he was not going to get involved unless it was absolutely necessary. 

Still reeling from the hatred he had heard in his daughter's voice, Ned rested his fists on the table and looked over at her, taking note on how Annika and 'Tara' watched his every move. He knew better than to signal to the other soldiers that were near him to make any sort of movement towards the trio, he knew first hand how well Nyoko and Annika had been trained to fight. "What are you doing here? How did you manage to leave Gilnor without proper authorization?" 

A smirk spread over Chaos' lips as she looked at her father, switching back to English as she sneered at him. "We circumnavigated the whole problem of getting 'authorization'. As for what I'm doing here, can't you figure it out? I'm here to find my mother." 

"Out of the question! It's too dangerous! You are _not_--" 

"What makes you think that I need your permission to do anything?!" she snapped, cutting him off. "I'm not here to debate on whether I'm going or not! I'm here because you morons are walking into a goddamned trap! Did it ever even occur to you that maybe, just _maybe,_ this entire thing was set up? Did you even _think_ to check the background of the Qyitoni system, or to dissect that supposed signal you received?" 

"We followed protocol--" 

"Fuck protocol!" 

"Watch your language! I'm still your father!" 

A short bark of derisive laughter left her at that. "Oh, yes. My _father_. The person who sent me to a hellhole of a planet because I wasn't living up to your expectations, because I was part of the Pack, and because I wasn't _human_ enough for you anymore!" 

Ned jerked at that, eyes going wide. "That's not--" 

"No? Don't you remember that fight you had with Mom the day before I left? I heard it all, you know." As the colour drained from his face, her voice took on a sharp edge. "'She's not even acting like a human anymore, it's like she's some goddamn hybrid. She's barely our daugher anymore, and you can't even see it, because you're so blinded by Predator mentality'. Remember that, _dad?_ Or would you like me to quote more?" 

"You don't understand! I was looking out for you!" 

"Bullshit! I was _happy_ here! As far as I'm concerned, you and I share the same blood, and that's as far as our father/daughter relationship goes! All rights you had to call yourself my father were obliterated the day you shoved me onto that frieghter and ripped me away from my mother, my friends and my home!" 

Alarmed by the anger Annika sensed from her friend, she carefully reached out and lay a hand on her shoulder, eyes widening when she felt how strongly Chaos was trembling. Whether it was in anger or grief, she didn't know, but it worried her. "Nyoko." Catching the look of surprise Ned shot her, she scowled and sent a glare back at him, making it plain that her opinion of him was at the same level as Chaos'. "Nyoko...." 

Shuddering, Chaos nodded and rose her left hand to rest it over Annika's, squeezing slightly in thanks before dropping her arm again and fixing the gathered humans with a cold glare. "We didn't come here for this. The planet that the signal was coming from, I imagine that you don't know that someone's set up shop there. Three times in the past four months, a frieghter has gone to the fifth planet of that system." 

One of the other humans frowned at that. "How do you know this?" 

Chaos grinned rather ferally. "That's for us to know, and for you to keep guessing. As for what we found out, well, it's rather interesting, actually." She paused and folded her arms over her chest. "Do I have your attention now? Yes? Good. The signal you picked up was _directed_ here. It was encrypted, so that no other subspace surveillance system could decipher it, to them, it would sound like static. Useless noise." 

"That's impossible. They'd have to know the exact frequency in order to do that," the man protested. "There's no one here who would share information like that." 

Annika frowned. "An you would be?" 

"Jaquays. Mark Jaquays." 

"Jaquays, do you know anything about encoding messages? Encrypting them so heavily, so intricately that it would be nigh impossible for anyone to break the codes?" Annika smiled thinly. "I'm talking about one hundred fifty decaquad bit encryption codes, here. Melded into the subspace transmission so perfectly that only a real pro could tell the difference. A pro, or an elite hacker and cracker of systems." 

"That would take years to break down!" 

"Annika broke down the signal encryption in fifteen minutes," Tara smirked, eyes dancing. "Traced it back to it's source, then used it's unique frequency to triangulate the exact planet it came from and what transmitters would be able to send out such a signal." As a look of shock settled itself over Jaquays face, she let a grin replace her smirk. "We're in a league of our own here, man. Don't try to tell us what's impossible, because I can promise you that not much can stop us." 

Chaos exchanged a glance with Annika, who nodded, then reached up to touch the communicator earpiece she wore. "Sypher?" She waited a moment before smirking evily, seeing Ash'eld'uir shift slightly out of the corner of her eye. She couldn't blame him. The last time he had seen that particular expression on her face, she and Annika had stolen a speeder and vanished for three days. When they returned, it was later discovered that they had 'taken care' of a certain Blooded Predator who had been toying with the idea of killing them for sport. "Sypher. It's show time." 

As soon as the last syllable left her lips, the entire room was plundged into darkness, and while she and her two friends waited patiently, she could hear the humans cursing as they moved and subsequently ran into furniture. It was a few more seconds before the four computer screens that were built into the wall flickered to life, the symbols that were tattooed onto the three women's arms flashing across the screens before the information that they had uncovered appeared. 

"These are the files that we found," Annika said as she walked over to one of the screens and tapped it with a knuckle. "Take note who paid for those frieghters. Adam Evanston. From what we've managed to figure out, he's probably Livermore Evanston's son." 

Ned grabbed onto the back of a chair to keep his balance, suddenly sick to his stomach. "He had a _son?!_ Then...." 

"Revenge. Yeah. Chaos told us what happened with the original Evanston. Our best guess is that not only did he lose a father, but since he obviously knew what had been going on, he lost a whole shitload of money," Tara explained, her tone rather bored. "And since the dead-Evanston was trying to augment the xenos into warriors he could control to take over a few worlds, it stands to reason that still-alive Evanston also lost out on a planet of his own. Makes for a rather pissed off enemy, don't you think?" 

"We should hit him full on," the third human who had yet to give them his name said, turning to look at Sanchez. "Full assault." 

"Are you braindead or something? Idiot, what will that accomplish?!" Wondering how some of these people had lived this long, Chaos rounded on him and pinned him with a glare. "You don't even _know_ what you're up against yet! Gods above, did it occur to you that maybe that's what he's _waiting for?_ And second of all, if you do that, he's liable to kill my mother, Annika's father and the rest of the first team, which is what we're all trying to avoid." 

Annika nodded in agreement, then added on to Chaos' previous sentence. "Besides, despite the fact that the records were erased, whatever he had flown out there cost a hell of a lot. Like, enough to buy three planets. So not only is he probably armed to the teeth, he's got weapons that are quite capable of shooting a Pred ship out of orbit. And I don't even want to think about the fact that he might have decided to continue his father's work." 

"This changes everything," Ash'eld'uir said in English, glancing at Ned before turning his attention back to Sakaen'i. "What are you going to do?" 

"We didn't come here for permission," she answered, sending a sharp glare in Sanchez' direction when he started to protest. "We're going, whether it's with a rescue team or on our own. Either way, you can't stop us from going." 

He nodded, expecting as much, then looked to Ned. "I go with them. And any of my Pack who wishes to accompany us." When it looked like the ooman was about to protest, he growled. "My Pack. My senority. Sakaen'i and Katric'ta are of my Pack. You cannot interfere. Either join us or stay behind." 

Chaos looked at Tara and Annika in obvious relief, her hope that Ash'eld'uir would back them up not unfounded. Smiling a little, she tilted her head towards the door, catching Annika's anxious look as the three of them turned to leave. Now all they had to do was face the possible legion of people trying to get in to stop Sypher from continuing her attack on their computer system. After the last little while, however, she imagined that it would be simple compared with what they had just gone through. 

Forcing a smile, Annika fell back a little to walk by Nyoko's side and threw an arm around her best friend's shoulders, giving her a reassuring hug when she felt how tense and shakey the other woman still was. "You did good, girl. Real good." 

Feeling more tired than she had in days, Chaos leaned against her a little and sighed, raising a hand to wipe at the moisture that had gathered in her eyes. "I guess it's stupid.... I thought that maybe he'd have changed...." 

"S'not stupid," Tara said, glancing back at them as she led the way to the room where they had left Mav, Ray and Sypher. "It's not stupid at all. He's still your father.... it just sucks royally that he's acting like such an asshole." She paused, then stopped and turned to face her fully, her eyes troubled. "You know.... you know I'd never think that of you, right?" 

Nyoko smiled, a genuine smile this time, and nodded. "I know," she whispered, wrapping her free arm around Tara's shoulders to pull her close. "We're a team. Besides, what's chaos, without panic and disorder?" 

"Damned boring," Annika chuckled, resting her head against Nyoko's for a moment before pulling away. "Are you okay now? Stable again?" 

"Stable as I ever was," her friend nodded, wiping at her eyes again and turning to look behind her when a large clawed hand landed on her left shoulder, a rather uncharacteristic rumble of concern coming from the towering form. "Ash'eld'uir." 

He frowned behind the facemask as he looked down at her, knowing that he was missing something important. She looked tired, and emotionally worn out, something that he had seen a little of in the humans he occasionally trained. Making a mental note to remind her of her promise to explain things to him in detail later, he squeezed her shoulder gently, then pulled away. "Are you well?" 

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Oh, I almost forgot. Tara, this is Ash'eld'uir. He was the one who Blooded Annika and I." 

"Hey there," Tara smiled. "I've heard a lot about you. All of it was good, honest. Now, not to break up the reunion or nothin', but I really think we should go bail the others out of trouble before Maverick snaps and shoots someone." 

"If she hasn't already you mean," Annika chuckled, glancing over at her best friend questioningly, very aware of the imposing form that was standing nearby, watching everything. "Chaos?" 

"Go. I'll catch up." She turned back to the yautja as she spoke, sighing softly as she heard the other two take off down the corridor. "Thank you. For backing us up in there." 

He tilted his head to the side. "Did you think I wouldn't? Your arguments were valid, and the information you presented convincing. But that is not what this is about, Sakaen'i." 

She smiled ruely, amused that he could still read her so easily. "I was afraid you'd think I had abandoned your Pack. I didn't, you know. I tried to get a message out, Annika and I both did." 

"I know. We eventually learned what had happened. Though, to this day, I still cannot understand why your sires chose to send you off-world." 

"You an me both." The sounds of a fairly large fight drew her attention, and she shook her head in exasperation as she glanced in the direction Tara and Annika had gone in, raising a hand to the earpiece she wore when a crackled yelp siphoned through the static. _We need better equipment..._ "What? Tara? I can't hear you, say again." 

The redhead rolled her eyes and threw herself into the room that Mav, Ray and Sypher were in, turning to help Annika and Ray hold the door closed as what she thought to be a small contingency of guards tried to force their way in. "I said '_HELP!_'" Not caring that she might have just deafened her friend, she spun and placed her back against the door, looking over at Sypher wildly. "Can't you get the security system to stop them?!" 

"Like, there's totally nothing _inside_ the building! It's like, totally, like, useless, y'know?!" Her bad habit of adding 'likes' and various other words into her sentences was intensified by her rising panic, and she winced at the glare that Maverick sent her. "It's, like totally, not my fault!" 

A blue eyebrow twitched as hazel eyes darkened in anger. "Just _stop talking_ before I _shoot _you!" 

"Maverick! You're not helping!" Annika's boots squeaked on the floor as she put her shoulder to the door and shoved, grinning when a yell from the other side of the door signifyed that the idiot who had tried to reach in to grab one of them had just gotten his fingers crushed. 

Cries of a different kind were heard then, and Ray jerked back from the door in surprise when what sounded to be a body was thrown against it. "I think Chaos just joined the party." 

"No shit, _really?_ Y'think?" 

"Shut up, Tara." Throwing caution to the wind, he pulled the door open a crack, then closed it again in time to avoid being hit with yet another tossed guard. "Um.... did someone order a seven foot tall alien that's built like a brick shit house?" 

"That's just Ash'eld'uir," Annika said calmly, earning herself a wide eyed stare of disbelief from the male. "What?" 

"How can you be calm?!" 

Maverick snickered at his dumbfounded demand and pushed past him to open the door when a cheerful knock sounded against it, meeting Chaos' grin with one of her own. "Nice of you to drop by." 

"I was in the neighbourhood," the Blooded human shrugged, grinning all the while. "And you didn't shoot anyone! I'm impressed!" 

"Yeah, well, Annika wouldn't let me." Her eyes widened as a huge form moved to stand behind the raven-haired woman, dwarfing her with it's sheer height, an expressionless mask tilting downwards to regard her. "Uhh.... _nice _alien. _Good _alien, non killing of the blue haired human alien...." 

"Stop being such a dork," Tara laughed, draping an arm around Maverick's shoulders. "He's cool. He was Chaos and Annika's Leader teacher dude." 

Chaos groaned at Tara's complete lack of tact and rose a hand to her forehead in an exasperated smack, dimly aware that Ash'eld'uir was regarding the two in the doorway as one usually regards those of lesser sanity. "This.... is going to be a very long mission."   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


TBC 


	8. An Odd Heart to Heart

**To whom it may concern.**

Yes, we're back. Tentatively. I personally trust about as far as I can throw a Volvo, but fans of these fics have asked that I continue to update here on However, this will not be the main place to find our fics. We will always update our Message Board waay before we even think about And if deletes any more of our fics without due cause and without explaination, we're gone.

Lashana Inferno

Bright sunlight filtered through the leaves of the trees around her, playing dappled beams of warm light around her as she sat amongst the ferns, staring out across a small pond at the heron that was stalking it's prey. Behind her, hidden by the thick canopy of trees, sat Ash'eld'uir's ship, the sleek yet oddly shaped vessel silent and dark, mirroring her current thoughts.

After managing to leave the compound, she and the others had taken a few moments to raid one of the supply rooms and armories, then followed Ash'eld'uir back to his ship, where they had proceeded to put a distance between themselves and the people who were less than pleased with them. They were waiting now, for other yautja to join them, and Chaos was glad for the brief respite, wanting some time to herself to get her thoughts in order.

Seeing her father again had brought up old angers, old disappointments that she had thought she had put behind her. A part of her had truly hoped that his view of her would have changed, and it was still reeling from the sharp slap of harsh reality it had received.

She shifted and pulled her knees up against her chest, resting her chin on her arms as she gazed at the glistening pool of water nearby. Was there something wrong with her? Something that she couldn't see? Was that why her father wasn't content to have her as she was? The questions joined her turmoiled emotions, bringing a frown to her face as she sighed heavily, closing her eyes as she buried her face against her arms.

The snap of a breaking twig made her snap her head up and around, rising into an instinctive crouch before she recognized the one who had joined her. "Don't sneak up on me like that," she muttered, turning away as she resumed her previous position.

Ash'eld'uir frowned down at her for a moment before crouching, settling himself back on his heels as he rose his hands to disconnect his mask from the filter that kept his air supply clean of impurities and at the needed levels that allowed him to breathe with ease. While he could survive on the air of the planet for a sufficient period of time, he still preferred the more normal mixture he was accustomed to.

A cool breeze washed over his face as he relieved himself of the facemask, clipping it to his belt before turning his attention back to Sakaen'i, watching her for a moment before speaking, wanting to get to the source of the sorrow that stained her scent and her eyes. "You promised me an explanation, young one."

A sigh left her at that, and she glanced over at him, wondering if perhaps she could manage to change the subject away from herself. At one time, she might have been frightened of his appearance. The vicious fanged mouth covered by two tusks and two mandibles alone would cause any new acquaintance to be wary, for it was difficult to read their facial expression if you didn't know what signs to look for, and she imagined that the reactions of her friends would be quite entertaining when the time came.

She met his gaze quietly, still inwardly surprised at how easy it was to read any yautja's moods or thoughts simply by watching the emotions in their eyes. After a moment, she turned away and resumed her quiet study of the pond, frowning when she heard him click his mandibles in impatience. "Ash'eld'uir... is there something wrong with me?"

He frowned, the question catching him by surprise, confusing him. "Your body heat is normal."

"Not physically. With _me_. With who _I_ am..." Chaos sighed again and ran a hand through her hair, closing her eyes in a weak attempt to hold back her own emotions. "I don't understand why he doesn't want me."

__

This was certainly _not_ something he had been prepared to deal with. "Sakaen'i, truthfully, there is still much about ooman's that I do not understand. You are a cunning, intelligent, warrior. You have proven yourself numerous times, against the Hard Meat drones and in training--"

"Then why can't he see that?" she cried, inadvertently cutting him off as she picked up a stone and flung it into the pond, startling the heron into taking flight. "Nothing I do is _ever _good enough, and he sent me away as if he was _ashamed _of me. I was _happy_ here..."

Silence fell over them as he shifted and lowered himself to the ground, sitting next to her as she hid her face in her arms, the scent of her tears and her turmoil thick in the air. He let her be for a moment, letting her regain her composure in her own time, remembering when he had seen her cry for the first time, years ago, after a fight she had with her father about her Blooding rite, and his aversion to it. She was trapped between two worlds it seemed, accepted and yet alienated by both sides.

It was almost ten minutes later when she rose her head and wiped at her eyes, sniffling softly. "You must think me such a coward."

"No. I..." He growled and looked away from her, unaccustomed to dealing with such delicate emotional matters. "You are one of my best students, Sakaen'i. Had I known of your father's intentions ahead of time, I would have prevented him from sending you away. Unfortunately, when the information finally reached me, it was far too late for any action to be taken. As for your question... I do not believe that there is anything _wrong_ with you, but my opinion does not matter. What matters, young Sakaen'i, is whether or not _you_ believe that there is something wrong with you."

"I didn't use to think so," she whispered. "But now I don't know anymore."

Ash'eld'uir turned to frown at her. "His opinion is his own, it does not mean that it is the truth. Truthfully, do you believe there is something wrong with you?"

"I..."

"Sakaen'i."

She sighed at his stern growl. "No. But--"

"You must learn to trust in yourself. His opinion is just that, an opinion. That he is your father is... disappointing, but it does not mean that his beliefs are the truth. Were he anyone else, such an opinion would hold no sway over you. As his child, he expects you to follow 'in his footsteps', as it were. But in the end, Sakaen'i, you must find your own Path." He let her think about that for a few breaths, turning his gaze back to the landscape before them. "Were you my child... I would be very proud of you."

She looked at him in badly veiled shock, stunned at the high compliment, though she could tell by his posture that he didn't want her to pursue the topic, obviously uncertain of how to handle the change in conversation his admission had paved the way for.

Hiding a smile, she followed his gaze to the pond again, seeing him glance at her out of the corner of his eye. "When all this is over, I think I'd like to join you and your Pack on a Hunt. If that's alright with you. I need to replace the trophy skulls that I lost."

"Lost?" He was relieved that she had changed the subject, but troubled by what she had just admitted. A Hunter did not _lose_ his trophies.

"Dad... had them destroyed before I left. I barely managed to save these." She gestured to the gauntlets she still wore, then looked over at the yautja next to her when he snarled, mandibles bristling. "What?"

"He had them _destroyed?_" Anger swept through him before he realized that she had no idea what he was speaking of, and he took a brief moment to struggle to calm himself before turning back to her. "Sakaen'i, one who takes and destroys the trophies of another warrior... it is the foulest display of dishonor! Normally, one would be killed for such an offence, his skull shattered as a show of his disgrace and as a message to the Gods to damn his spirit for all eternity."

She didn't know what to say to that, so she settled for a meek, "...oh."

He growled and nodded, knowing that he couldn't very well kill Ned, and yet outraged that a fellow Leader whom he trusted had done such a thing.

"Well," Chaos murmured after she had judged that he was calm again, "I can't very well kill him. I'm fairly certain that I'm well on my way to hating him, but I don't want him _dead_. He's important to the continued well being of this planet. I'll just settle for making his life completely miserable. It's deeply satisfying on a petty level, you know."

A slight chuckle of amusement left him at that, well aware of her almost sadistic sense of humor and revenge when it came to such matters. "I must admit, you were missed. It is good to have you back."

"Believe me, it's good to be back. Gilnor was a hellhole on an axis. Gods it was _boring._ If it wasn't for Rakur'a's monthly messages we'd have gone daft with boredom. And speaking of Rakur'a..." she trailed off and looked at him in askance.

"Yes, he is among the other Hunters who are joining us. Did you think otherwise? He has been awaiting your return since the day you left! I had begun to think that you, Katric'ta and he were attached in some manner, seeing as neither of you were rarely seen without the other two." He grinned, mandibles going wide. "Out of us all, he is the one who has been the most influenced by oomans, thanks to you two. Though, I have yet to decide if that is a good trait or a bad one, considering the nature of the most powerful influences involved."

Chaos smirked at the teasing barb and playfully elbowed him. "Ah, but you like us anyway," she grinned, hearing his laughter as he returned the nudge, making her brace herself to avoid being knocked over. "Ash'eld'uir?"

"Hrrm?"

"Thanks. For... y'know."

He smiled and rested a hand on her shoulder, nodding in understanding before he rose and headed back to his ship, leaving a considerably lighter-hearted Sakaen'i to her thoughts.

TBC


	9. Bad Medicine

A yawn escaped Annika as she leaned back against a wall and half-listened to the conversation between Ash'eld'uir and Ned Sanchez, knowing that Nyoko was highly adverse to having her father and three other soldiers accompany them. Not that she blamed her friend. She wasn't highly impressed with them herself, nor were the rest of their little group.

Whispers came from her left, and she glanced over at Tara and Maverick as they leaned closer to each other, the two obviously brainstorming ideas for either using yautja technology to improve their equipment, or planning to torment the soldiers. Either way, Annika figured that it was bound to be interesting. Sypher was to her right, the fellow hacker seemingly bored with the current situation, and the conversation that was ongoing nearby, and Annika allowed herself to wonder if bringing the other hacker with them had been a good idea. Sypher was used to a more easy-going lifestyle that was borderline luxurious, bringing her along on a mission that would probably have them trekking through God-only-knew what kind of terrain certainly did not paint a pretty picture.

Ray joined them on the bridge them, accompanied by a frowning Chaos, and Annika smiled slightly as she moved over a little to let her best friend stand by her side, sensing how tense she was. "Hey."

"Hey." Trying to keep an outward appearance of calmness, Nyoko leaned back against the wall next to Annika and folded her arms over her chest, eyeing the soldiers warily as she tuned into their conversation, idly noting that the Predator Leader seemed rather irritated.

Ray, meanwhile, moved over to the two whispering women and leaned towards them, angling his head in the direction of the unmasked yautja nearby. "Nice to put a face to the frightening voice, eh?"

Maverick snickered. "Tell me about it. I nearly attached myself to Tara here."

"The look on your face was entertaining though," the redhead grinned, eyes bright with mischief as she nudged her friend in the ribs. "Something between catatonic and terrified."

"Oh, shut up," Mav grumbled. "Besides, you were no better. You were holding onto my arm hard enough to bruise."

"I hear ya," Ray smirked. "I ducked behind Annika."

"Wuss."

"Hey! You two aren't exactly getting medals for bravery either!"

A rather wicked grin spread over Mav's lips. "And your point is?"

Annika rolled her eyes and looked over at them. "Would you two stop tormenting him? Save it for the marines. Besides, at least _he_ didn't scream."

"Oh, really?" Now it was his turn to wear the wicked grin. "Who's the wuss now?"

Tara and Maverick glared at him. "Shaddup."

"God," Chaos snickered, meeting Annika's gaze. "It's like babysitting children."

"I know! Maybe they need a time-out? Or a warm bottle of milk and a blankie?"

"Yeah! Inforced nap-time."

The trio in question turned as one to deliver rather nasty looks onto the two Blooded humans, who grinned and chuckled, exchanging high-fives.

Sypher lightly elbowed Chaos in the ribs then, drawing the woman's gaze before pointing to the soldiers who had turned to stare at them. "Um, I think they want something."

The raven-haired woman arched an inquizzitive eyebrow at the group, tilting her head to the side as she looked over at the ones who were staring at them as if they couldn't wrap their minds around the fact that her and her group were coming along on the trip. "Staring is rude, y'know."

Ash'eld'uir glanced at her, then thumped his fist on the wall, drawing the ooman's attention back to him. They had made it clear that they didn't approve of Sakaen'i and her group accompanying them. Ned was especially adverse to it. "They _are_ joining us. Neither I, nor they, require your approval on this matter."

Marshall, who was shocked that they were allowing what seemed to be a bunch of rowdy teenagers to meddle in a rescue mission, shook his head, unfazed by the big Predator's glare. "They're civilians! Two of them may be from your Pack, but the others are civilians, they don't have any training at all!"

Tara chuckled at that, drawing his gaze. "Oh, ye of little intelligence. You really don't know what you're talking about, do you?" Before he could react, she lunged forward, kicked Chaos' father aside and drew her pocket knife, grinning at the soldier's shocked expressions as she nuzzled the blade against Marshall's jugular, ignoring the other two men who had drawn their guns on her. "You're a fucking idiot, Marshall, if you think we're all delicate waifs in need of saving. And as for the rest of you..." She turned her head and glared at the two who were aiming their guns at her, letting her grin turn just a little more demented, and a little more evil. "You shoot me, and I guarantee that you'll both be dead before I hit the ground."

They paused at that, and then followed her gaze to Annika and Chaos, who had pushed away from the wall and popped their right wrists forward, their Predator wrist-blades fully extended and glistening in the light of the room as they tensed, eyes narrowed. Maverick and Ray had drawn their guns, the thin beams of targeting lasers fixed unwaveringly on the first and second soldiers foreheads.

"Ki'cte! Enough!" Ash'eld'uir glared at the two soldiers until they lowered their weapons, then gestured for Tara to release Marshall, growling when she reluctantly obeyed. Maverick, Ray, Katric'ta and Sakaen'i, he was proud to note, obeyed him without question, resheathing their weapons and taking a more relaxed stance, though their gazes never wavered from the soldiers. Taking a breath, he turned his attention to Ned, who seemed torn between agreeing with his men or trusting Ash'eld'uir's judgement, which demanded he accept the Predator Leader's decision. "This is not open to debate."

After a tense moment, Ned sighed and nodded, risking a glance at his daughter and wincing at the glare she gave him. "Alright. How many others will be joining us?"

"Due to the suddeness of the mission, most Hunters cannot return in enough time to join us. Only a three yautja will be accompanying us. Rakur'a, Gar'essar and a newly Blooded, Cha'roth."

Chaos glanced at Annika upon hearing that. They knew the first two Hunters, but they were curious about the last. It was rare that a newly Blooded was allowed to join such missions, a fact made more odd by the fact that they had never heard of him. Though they had been away for three years, Rakur'a always tried to keep them up to date of the yautja doings on the planet, especially since some yautja new to the planet had yet to learn much about humans.

Tara, who hadn't missed the shared look, leaned close to them and frowned. "What is it?"

"Nothing," Annika whispered back. "We'll fill you in later."

Nodding, she returned her attention to the four men, idly playing with her pocket knife as she eyed them. True, her grudge against Ned stemmed from Chaos' own feelings towards him, but being regarded as some defenseless 'girl' always did get on her nerves. She may not have been able to bench press a hundred pounds, but she was by no means weak. Brains, after all, were always more capable than brawn.

Ray draped an arm over her shoulders then, and she tilted her head to look at him for a moment before leaning against him. They had been friends for years now, and while Ray had shown a bit of interest towards her, she saw him only as a brother. Family, she thought, was more important than boyfriends. Family stuck with you through everything, yet one wrong move in a budding intimate relationship could ruin everything faster than one could blink.

A startled gasp drew her gaze to Sypher, who was backing towards them as two other Predators walked onto the bridge. The first she recognised as Gar'essar from earlier, and since Chaos and Annika made no move towards the other, she guessed that he was the Cha'roth that Ash'eld'uir had spoken of.

As the two new arrivals looked in their direction, Ray hid a shiver and tightened his hold on Tara, momentarily feeling like a mouse that was staring down the gullet of a snake before his common sense took hold, sharply reminding him that they were allies, and while deadly, he probably didn't even rate a place on their list of worthy prey.

Cha'roth glanced from the humans Ash'eld'uir was speaking to, then back to the other group, hissing softly in surprise when he saw that two of them were Blooded with Ash'eld'uir's Mark. Sakaen'i and Katric'ta then. The other four that were gathered behind the two were unBlooded, but stood with an air of alert readiness. He had heard of oomans joining the yautja Packs, and while he had at first been surprised at that, he had herd many tales of how well the their species could work together, thus quelling his previous adversion to the odd truce.

They spoke in their own tongue amongst themselves, and he frowned as he tried to mentally translate what they were saying, having just arrived on this world months ago. His English was nowhere as fluent as Gar'essars, not yet anyway, and he imagined that this Hunt would allow him to practice his understanding of it as time went on.

"Um," Maverick tapped Annika on the shoulder and gestured in the direction of Cha'roth, who had been studying them for well over five minutes. It was... disconcerting to say the least. "Why is he staring at us like that?"

She shrugged. "Might not have been on the planet long," Annika supplied. "He's probably just curio-- ACK!" She tensed, her back ramrod straight as her wide eyed gaze shot to Cha'roth. There was a hand where there wasn't supposed to be a hand. Said hand had talons that were digging into places that talons should not dig into, causing pain in a place where there should be no pain.

Chaos was in the same state of cataonic shock, unable to even breathe as she stared at the Predator in mixed surprise and rage, hoping that he had a _damned good reason_ to be doing this to both her and Annika.

"This is weak armor. What possible protection can it give you?" he muttered in confusion, speaking in his native tongue and then glancing over at the other yautja when they both roared at him in shock and rage. Stilling, he looked back at the two Blooded humans, noting their rising temperature and tense stances. Wary dread started to rise in him as the realization that these two were _female_ giving him the few clicks that were needed to supply him with a clue. "This... isn't armor, is it?"

"No," Annika and Chaos growled, both of them speaking in unison and watching as his eyes widened as they spoke in his language, their voices low and thick with anger, mirroring the rather murderous shadows in their eyes. "It isn't."

Sypher grimaced. "Like, heavy on the ick."

Tara, whose jaw had dropped out of dumbfounded shock at the Predator's actions, regained her coherancy at Sypher's comment and shouted out an enthusiastic, "Let's get 'im!"

As if someone had fired a starting pistol, both Chaos and Annika lunged at the startled Pred, ignoring the commotion that broke out around them as they attacked poor unknowing Cha'roth. Tara tried to jump in to join the fight only to have Ray hold her back, his hands pinning her arms behind her back as he dragged her out of the line of fire, not wanting her to get hurt when the soldiers and two yautja tried to break up the fight.

Seeing Cha'roth fighting back, Ray grimaced and rose his voice above the insuing carnage. "You idiot! You have two vicious females after you! Don't try to fight them! Run away!"

"Like, _oh my god!_ This is totally, like, _insane!_"

Ray rolled his eyes and tighted his hold on a wriggling Tara as Ash'eld'uir and Marshall literally _dragged _Annika and Chaos away from the other Pred while Gar'essar kept the now angry yautja from attacking the two Blooded humans again. The rest of the soldiers, Ned included, stood on the sidelines and grimaced as Annika and Chaos screamed out, in great detail, what they would do to the Predator when they got loose again.

Maverick sighed and rose a hand to her forehead in an exasperated smack, listening to the carnage around her. "We bring the term 'dysfunctional' to a whole new meaning."

Ray chuckled as Tara paused in her struggling and glared at Mav. "Yeah, but on the good side, Cha'roth is still alive. Remember the last guy who did something like that to them?"

That elicited a rather evil chuckle from the redhead as she grinned over at Cha'roth, vaguely aware that Annika and Chaos had stopped screaming and were now simply standing still, their hands fisted at their sides as they continued to glare at the Pred. "Yeah! Last I heard, he had just regained the ability to eat solid food. The medics said there's a good chance that he should be able to walk again in another four months!"

"Like, _oh my god!_ That's, like, _totally_, not nice!"

The cry jolted Chaos out of her rage, and she frowned as she turned to look at Sypher in disbelief, Ash'eld'uir's hands still gripping her arms. Muttering about having to start screening their help, she tried to pull away from the Leader, then tilted her head back to look up at him when he tightened his hold on her. "You can let go now."

Annika, meanwhile, had a more direct approach of getting loose. "Get off of me!" Growling, she mule-kicked poor Marshall right where it counted and jerked free as he dropped to the floor with a wheeze, favoring him with a disgusted glare before she stomped over and yanked Tara away from Ray. "Ugh, _men_."

Tara snorted. "Can't live with 'em, can't shoot 'em. What's a girl to do?"

An evil grin spread over Chaos' lips as Ash'eld'uir released her, and she chuckled as she rubbed feeling back into her arms. "Castration?"

Grimacing at the thought, Ash'eld'uir lightly swatted her for insubordination, then turned his attention to Cha'roth, who, now that his blood had cooled, looked somewhat disconcerted. After what had just happened, he couldn't blame the warrior. Though, only one very stupid or very brave would dare to risk to wrath of a female of any species, and the Leader was leaning towards the first of the two choices as he regarded the other Hunter, noting the various scratches and bruises that glowed slightly in his vision. Personally, he thought Cha'roth had been lucky that the two females hadn't used weapons on the idiot, else they'd be short one warrior.

Marshall, who had regained his footing with help from Jaquays and Foster, his fellow soldiers, shook his head as he glanced from Cha'roth to Ash'eld'uir. "You know, you'd better punish him or something, else those two will do it for you."

The Leader glanced over at Sakaen'i and Katric'ta, frowning when they cracked their knuckles and smirked at him. Shaking his head, he looked back to Cha'roth and growled. "I'm not certain I have an appropriate punishment for such a show of _stupidity. _Were we not pressed for time, I would let the ones insulted handle this, but..."

"We can't afford to lose anyone," Ned chipped in, agreeing with the Predator. Truthfully, he had half a mind to deal out a few blows to the other yautja himself. He and Nyoko may not have been seeing eye-to-eye at the moment, but she _was_ still his daughter. Seeing someone grope her was bound to bring up paternal instincts.

"Well actually..." Grinning, Tara stepped forward and looked up at Ash'eld'uir. "I have an idea."

TBC


	10. Relaxing and Training

Loud music nearly made the walls of the ship tremble as Ned strolled down the corridor, passing the large set of quarters that Nyoko and her friends had claimed as their own, leaving the rest of the rooms on the ship to the other yautja and humans. Normally, each person would be allowed his or her own quarters, but she and her group had been adamant, much to his and Ash'eld'uir's surprise. And now, as the loud, almost hypnotic, beat of some odd sort of wild music bled through their door, he was glad for it. Better to only have such music only coming from one room instead of six.

He knew that they had raided the armory before they had left the compound, and while he knew that they were proficient in fighting - such had been proven when they had attacked Cha'roth - it still annoyed him that they seemed to rely on stealing things instead of legally aquiring them. The whole situation with his daughter was a mess. He only wished he could get her to _listen _to him long enough to explain himself. It wasn't that he didn't love her, or think her inhuman, it was because he wanted her to be _more_ than just a warrior that he had sent her to Gilnor, hoping that by enrolling her in the college there that she would be able to let herself blossom.

Instead, he had destroyed any and all trust in her, and his hopes that she let her considerable range of talents emerge were dashed by the realization that she hated him for his efforts. To make things worse, in the process, he had lost Machiko, the heated argument that Nyoko had listened in on all those years ago having been the worst and most destructive confrontation he and his former wife had ever had. In the end, he had lost them both, and never a day went by that he didn't curse himself for his stupidity.

Inside the spacious quarters, oblivious to the passerby, five of the six group members lounged around the room, the loud music blasting continuously. Chaos was stretched out on her stomach on one of the huge beds, sleeping peacefully despite the wall shaking volume of the song that was playing. Tara was sprawled over her, lying perpendicular over Chaos' back with her head hanging off of the edge of the bed, arms askew as she snored softly. Annika was perched at the foot of the cot, her laptop resting on her legs as she immersed herself in formulating various programs that could be of use later on. Maverick was sitting lotus style on the second bed, numerous parts and pieces of techology scattered around her as she worked on improving their communicators, humming along with the music as she set one tool aside and then groped around for another, smiling at Ray when he pushed it into her hand then returned to his own little world as he sorted through the various weapons they had stolen from the compounds armory.

Sypher, as far as they knew, was still touring the ship with Cha'roth, such was his punishment for his earlier actions that had almost resulted in Chaos and Annika beating the poor yautja senseless. Tara's suggestion had been funny at best and sadistic at worst, the fact that Sypher knew nothing of the punishment making it so much more enjoyable for the rest of the group since Cha'roth, forced into acting as a tour guide and distraction to keep the hyper hacker away from the others, had been glared into swearing that he would not kill, harm, or even _glare_ at the extravagent hacker. Tara had taken great joy in setting out certain rules for him to obey, Chaos and Annika adding in their own little reminders of what they would do to him if he refused.

Ash'eld'uir and Gar'essar had shown mixed feelings at the women's choice of punishment. Confusion at how such a thing could be a punishment, and then an odd sense of quiet dread once it had all been explained in great detail. All the males, excepting Ray, had been keeping a wide berth from the human women after they had worked Sypher into a hyper fit and set her loose on Cha'roth, their snickers clearly evil as they watched the downcast Predator lead a grinning Sypher down a corridor.

The ship had left Hunter's Planet's atmosphere almost three hours earlier, and even though the watching the punishment unfold, none of them were looking forward to the rest of the fifteen hour flight to the Qyitoni system. Boredom among this group was not a good thing to behold. Point in fact being Cha'roth's current punishment/torture. Once they had rested and run out of things to distract themselves with, things would turn much worse.

Ash'eld'uir knew this well, having been present a long time ago when Katric'ta and Sakaen'i had alleviated their boredom by playing pranks on the Pack, almost resulting in their deaths when the enraged members of said Pack learned of who had caused the chaos that had befallen them.

As far as he knew, Rakur'a had yet to rejoin the other duo, something that tugged at his curiousity. He had thought that the other warrior would have fairly leapt at the chance to reunite with the two who had been his closest friends. Obviously, the fellow warrior was planning something, and only out of respect did he not even toy with the thought of asking him what it might be.

His curiousity turned instead to wondering whether Katric'ta and Sakaen'i had kept up their training while off-world. Their answers via Rakur'a's messages had been vague at best, but now that they were here in the flesh, he was determined to have his questions answered. Hence, therefore, his intent to pull them into a sparring match. At their best, they were capable of beating even him, yet he had a suspicion that things had drastically changed.

Blaring sound assaulted his ears as he headed for their quarters, the loud noise riddled with odd patterns of beats and pulses. Human 'music'. While he could put up with some of what the oomans listened to, this rash melee of _something_ was defiantely _not_ one of the things he wanted to hear.

If he had thought the sound was loud in the corridor, he was sadly mistaken. The opening of the door nearly flattened him, and he grimaced as a headache started pounding in candance to the beat of the music, forcing him to shriek in order to be heard. He glared when Katric'ta glanced up in surprise before she reached over and thumbed a small device, plunging the room into a silence that was only broken by the ringing in everyone's ears.

Tara's eyes blinked open at the sudden lack of sound, jolted out of her sleep. "Why the hell did you turn it off!" When Annika pointed to the doorway, she turned her head in that direction and stared up at the yautja towering in the doorway. If she had thought they looked odd under normal circumstances, staring at one while hanging upside down only made things worse The fact that he was only wearing what seemed to be a loincloth didn't help matters any. "Oh. Whaddya want?"

"Oi! Tara! Don't be an idiot!" Maverick yelled, throwing a spare part at the redhead and smirking when the projectile hit Tara right in the forehead.

"Ow! I didn't deserve that!"

Muttering in her sleep, Chaos shifted and reached out to smack the one who was attached to the elbow that was currently digging into her kidney before flipping onto her side so she was facing the wall, incidentally throwing Tara to the floor in the process as she curled up and pulled a spare shirt that had been lying nearby over her head.

Annika glanced from Tara, who was sprawled on the floor and looking like she wanted to kill something, to Ash'eld'uir, who was eyeing Chaos a little warily. "She's not a morning person," she explained with a shrug. "So, what's up?"

The yautja tore his gaze away from the still asleep Sakaen'i and frowned. "I believe it is high time that you show me exactly how far behind in your training you are," he told her, shaking his head when the increased heat in her face informed him that she was blushing. "Katric'ta... have you two done _anything_ to keep up your fighting abilites?"

"Well, there was that gang war we got in the middle of," she mused, glancing at Ray. "And the time you had the cops after us."

"Hey! That was _not_ my fault!" he protested indignantly. "I only _borrowed_ that speeder! I was gonna give it back!"

"_Anyway_, um... we may have let ourselves slip a little..."

Ash'eld'uir sighed heavily at that, knowing that 'a little' meant 'a lot'. Growling, he walked over to the closest bed and reached down to shake Sakaen'i's shoulder, hearing Annika's snicker when the raven-haired Blooded warrior merely slapped his hand away and curled up a bit more, all without waking up.

Trying hard not to laugh, Annika grinned at the irritated Leader. "Think of it this way: Chaos never sleeps like this if she doesn't trust the people around her. If she didn't trust you _a lot_ she would have woken up the moment you opened the door. Anyway, you're doing it wrong." Leaning over, she reached out and poked her friend in the ribs, right where she was the most ticklish.

Screeching in surprise, Chaos propelled herself away from the one who was tickling her and promptly fell off the bed, landing on Tara and groaning as she blinked up at a chuckling Ash'eld'uir before turning her head to glare at Annika. "You're lucky I like you," she growled out, yelping when Tara shoved her aside, letting her land on her stomach at the Predator's feet. "Hello."

Smirking, he reached down and pulled her to her feet, surprised at how light she felt to him. "Sleeping so deeply is dangerous in unfamiliar territory, Sakaen'i."

She shrugged and ran her hands through her hair, groaning as she also used the motion to stretch her shoulders. "There were others on watch, and I doubt that anyone on this ship is stupid enough to try anything." Yawning, she scratched at her right arm and shook the rest of the clinging drowsiness from her mind. "So, what's up?"

Ash'eld'uir clicked his mandibles together and looked at her sternly. "Sparring. I want to know how far you two have fallen behind."

Sighing, Annika carefully set her computer aside and got to her feet, stretching a little after having been sitting there for an extended period of time. "Tara?"

"Hmm?"

She paused a moment, then groaned. "If we're not back in an hour... come and see if we're still alive."

"Right-o."

"Chaos! Lookout for the--" Annika winced in sympathetic pain as she watched her friend get tossed across the room, grimacing when Chaos rebounded off the wall before collapsing to the floor. Aparently Ash'eld'uir was refusing to go easy on them, deciding that since they hadn't bothered to keep up their training, that this was a fitting punishment. Personally, Annika would rather have delt with Sypher than _this._

She realised too late that the yautja had turned his attention to her, and only female agility allowed her to dodge the first attack. Her fight lasted as long as Chaos had. One punch, two punch, three kick, floor. She landed next to her friend, who groaned out a strangled kind of greeting.

Ash'eld'uir stomped over to them and glared. "You're supposed to be in shape!"

"I am in shape!" Chaos did an odd sort of whining moan and rose her right arm, gesturing vaguely to the wall she had bounced off of. "See that? _That_ is my shape."

"It's a very nice shape," Annika added dazedly, lying spread eagled next to her, mentally in awe of how comfortable the mats that lined the kehrite, the training room, were.

Growling irritably, he reached down and hauled both of them to their feet. "Again." When they groaned, he cuffed both of them upside the head. "You have a choice. Either manage to best me, or we can simply train for the entire flight."

Chaos exchanged wary looks with her best friend, knowing that Ash'eld'uir had the full intention on going through with his warning. Sighing heavily, she took a few steps back and closed her eyes as Annika fell into a ready stance, taking a few moments while the yautja and Annika sparred to recentre herself. It had been something she had always been able to do. Go past the ready state of a warrior and enter something completely different. Her thoughts cleared of all worries and doubts, her very spirit entering a kind of stillness as her senses sharpened. This side of her would only surface if she allowed it to, a mindset sharpened by years of training with Ash'eld'uir and his Pack.

She heard Annika's yelp as her friend hit the mats once again and opened her eyes, gazing over at the Leader as he turned his attention to her, not even winded from the last hour of sparring they had been doing. She watched him as he tensed, tilting her head to the side as she studied his stance, seeing his mandibles retract close to himself, a sure sign that he was going to attack.

Knowing that she would be finished if he got his hands on her, she used her smaller stature to her advantage, ducking around him as he lept at her, and then catching the fist that came at her, using his momentum and weight to execute a perfect throw. He landed on his feet, growling to her in praise before he attacked again, feinting to the right before coming in at the left, his quick foot shuffle confusing her for a tenth of a second before she leapt over the sweep that would have knocked her off her feet. Twisting in mid-air, she slammed her hands on his head and leap-frogged over him, landing in a crouch behind him and immediately lashing out to kick him in the small of his back.

Annika gave herself a sound mental cursing as she propped herself up on her elbows, her eyes widening when she saw the new fight. The look on Chaos' face, the cool calculating shadow in her eyes along with the stark view of the hole where her conscience was supposed to be startling her for a moment before she smiled. She was well used to her friend dropping into this mindset when in a fight. On Gilnor, it had given them a huge advantage when they had been involved in an attempted mugging from one of the gangs there. Big underline on 'attempted'. They had never known what hit them. Invoking Chaos' temper was not something anyone wanted to do.

But even with her temper and her years of training and fighting behind her, Chaos' skills were too rusty, and thus no match for a highly seasoned yautja Hunter, hence the fact that her best friend had just joined her on the floor. "Hi."

"...nuugh."

"Yeah. That's pretty much my opinion too," she muttered in reply, sighing wearily when Ash'eld'uir walked over to them. "Alright, so we're a bit rusty, we admit it! But do you have to keep bouncing us off the walls?"

"'Rusty' does not even being to describe your fighting skills," he growled to them, frowning when they both grumbled in protest. "Now. Again."

Chaos winced at the ache in her ribs and turned her head to look over at Annika, the two of them sharing a silent conversation before they both nodded and made themselves comfortable on the mats.

Seeing that they had even intention of disobeying him, Ash'eld'uir snarled angrily and stomped over to them, towering high above as he glared down at them, mandibles clicking in accordance with his anger as he reached down to haul them to their feet.

Taking the opening that was opened to her, Annika grimaced and shot a hand out, feeling the huge warrior tense in shocked surprise as she dug her nails into the tender flesh that his loincloth hid from view. Chaos pulled her away moments later, the yautja's few seconds pause had given her enough time to hop to her feet before rescuing Annika from the explosion that was coming.

Sure enough, as soon as they had scrambled out of arm's reach, Ash'eld'uir roared in insulted outrage and spun to glare at them, dreadlocks flying, every muscle tensed as his flexed his hands the talons on his fingers gleaming as he crouched, ready to rend and tear and obviously planning to deal out some sort of punishment that neither of them would enjoy.

Annika, who really didn't want to die just yet, grabbed an equally shaking Chaos' arm and pulled her backwards with her, stepping back as the Hunter advanced. "Ash'eld'uir! Don't forget! You _taught_ us to use an opponents unguarded openings to our advantage! So, in a way... we're good students! _Good _students who really don't deserve to die a painful death!"

As her friend's voice rose with panic the closer an obviously not listening Ash'eld'uir got, Chaos started looking for something to use as a weapon, her gaze darting around the bare walls in thinly vieled panic before her eyes cast downwards, at the mats beneath them. Her back hit the wall then, and she elbowed Annika as she glanced at the mats they had just stepped off of. Green eyes widened in surprise and mixed curiousity as Annika returned her gaze to her, one pink-dyed eyebrow arching in question.

Shrugging to show that it was worth a shot, Chaos took one last glance at the yautja who was now an arm's length away, then dropped to one knee, grabbed the mat and hauled on it, lifting it with enough force and speed that Ash'eld'uir's anger turned to surprise as he lost his footing and crashed to the floor.

"You fell! Session's over!" Grinning, Annika grabbed Chaos' hand and ran from the room, a roar following them as they raced down a corridor then did a sharp turn into another, narrowly avoiding running Marshall over as they bolted past him.

"Damn! Where's the fire!" Glaring after the two women in annoyance, he shook his head and muttered something about teenagers before turning away and coming face to stomach with a very, _very_ pissed-off Predator Leader. "Uh..." he blinked and staggered backwards a little before pointing. "They went thata way."


	11. Reunions and Tough Questions

"Keep... running..." Annika panted as she followed Chaos through the ships' corridor's, the sound of angry pursuit loud behind them as they tried to keep ahead of Ash'eld'uir, who was more than likely planning on trouncing them thouroughly for the little stunt they had done in order to get the upper hand during a sparring match.

"What... the hell... do you think... I'm doing!" Chaos gasped in reply as she skidded around a corner, intending to take refuge in their quarters until Ash'eld'uir had calmed down enough for them to have a continued existance. So fast was she going that she didn't even see the yautja that she ploughed into, dimly aware that she had actually managed to knock him over as she went sprawling backwards to land on Annika.

Dazed, the two Blooded humans shook their thoughts back in order, and were about to leap to their feet again when they were swept off the floor and up into a powerful hug, the two of them panicking for a brief moment before a very familiar rumble of greeting caught their attention, making them sigh in relief as they twisted to hug their long missed friend.

Mandibles wide in a grin, Rakur'a happily held his two favorite humans to himself, even going as far as to croon a little in joy when they returned his embrace. "Sakaen'i, Katric'ta, I've missed being on the Hunt with you! Are you back to stay? Are you rejoining a Pack? How did you come here from Gilnor?"

Chaos glanced back the way they had come and winced. "We'll tell you everything if you just let us go hide somewhere before Ash'eld'uir finds us."

Curious, he set them on their feet and cocked his head to the side, suddenly very aware of the roar of anger that was echoing from the direction they had come from. "What did you do?"

"Don't ask," Annika muttered as she grabbed his wrist, trying to drag him down the hallway. "Just _come on!_"

He shook his head and pulled them towards the opposite direction instead, ignoring their protests as he ushered the two of them into his quarters and closed the door, chuckling as he listened to the Leader stomp past. "What did you two do in order to get him _that_ angry?"

Chaos grimaced and dropped down onto the edge of his bed, reaching up to rub at the back of her neck. "He forced us into a sparring match. We've been away too long, so we're a little rusty. We got tired of being bounced off of the walls so we improvised."

His mandibles clicked loudly at that, knowing full well what 'improvisations' these two could come up with. "I don't want to know, do I?"

"No," Annika snickered, moving away from the door once she was sure that Ash'eld'uir had gone past. Doing a rapid mood swing, she rushed over to the seven and a half foot tall alien and threw her arms around his middle, burying her face against his muscled chest. "God it's good to see you again! I swear, if you hadn't sent us those messages we'd have gone completely _insane_ from boredom!"

Rumbling in amusement, he carefully returned the hug, then ruffled her hair. "You cut it. And you got rid of your braids."

"Wait till you put your mask on and switch spectrums," Chaos smirked. "She dyed it a different colour too. Pink."

"I'm not saying anything to that," he grinned as he pulled away from Katric'ta and went to sit next to Sakaen'i, studing her for a long moment. "She's not the only one who's changed..." As he spoke, he reached out to touch her right ear, talons lightly examining the peircings there before he slid his arm around her shoulders and gave her a brotherly hug, sighing when she twisted and curled close to him. "They will never seperate us again."

"Her dad lay into her before too," Annika muttered sourly as she thunked down to sit on the floor, resting an elbow on her knee as she sunk her cheek into her right palm. "And all this mess with Machiko going missing... did Ash'eld'uir fill you in on what we found out?"

He nodded, letting Sakaen'i shift so that she could rest her head on his chest. "About Evanston? Yes. You would have gone on alone, had Ash'eld'uir not decided to lead the mission, wouldn't you?"

"Yes," Chaos muttered lowly. "He took my mother, and if he's hurt her..."

Rakur'a glanced down at her warily, not liking the cold tone of her voice. "Sakaen'i..."

Shaking her head, she pulled away and ran her hands through her hair. "Sorry. Been trying to hold that part of me back. It's getting a little hard. And with Sanchez being the way he is..."

"Ye old temper be reaching it's peak?" Annika teased, playfully stretching a leg out to nudge her friend's right foot. "Think of it this way, at least we'll be off this ship in half a day, then maybe we can ditch the marines and go off on our own."

"You know Ash'eld'uir will not allow that," Rakur'a rumbled, rolling his eyes when Annika snorted in amusement. "You cannot be thinking of directly disobeying him."

"We've been on our own for years, Rakur'a, we know ways of getting out of situations that we don't want to be in. The mind is a powerful tool," Annika smirked, eyes dancing with mirth. "And we've perfected the use of it."

He frowned and looked from Katric'ta to Sakaen'i. "By the Black Warrior, what _happened_ to you two? I remember you being cunning warriors, but this..."

Chaos shrugged and rose to her feet, stretching a little. "We got older, Rakur'a. We got hurt, and we will always carry those emotional scars..."

"Your father?"

A dark look fell over her face as she glanced away, eyes narrowed, refusing to answer that. She sensed him stand and move up behind her and tensed for a moment before she felt his talons in her hair, his fingers weaving with lightning grace as he wove a traditional yautja braid into her hair, then letting it fall free once he was finished, the intricate braid sliding forward until it whispered against her left cheek.

"Sakaen'i, don't let your anger control you. In battle, it could get you killed." The yautja paused, then tilted his head to the side and rested a hand on her right shoulder. "I do not wish to be separated from you again, my huntsman."

She smiled a little at that and rose her hand to lay it on his much bigger one. "We won't. There's no way Annika and I are going back to Gilnor, and there's nothing that my father can say that will convince me to leave the Packs ever again. I'm back to stay."

"_We're_ back to stay," Annika corrected with a grin as she hopped to her feet and grabbed Chaos' arm. "C'mon, let's introduce him to the rest of the gang! Tara's been waiting to meet him for months!"

The big alien tilted his head to the side curiously. "Tara?"

"Mm. We met her on Gilnor." Chaos paused and let a wry smile spread over her lips. "She's just as nuts as we are. On Gilnor, the three of us were known as Chaos, Panic and Disorder. It's thanks to her that we managed to get here. She infiltrated one of the Company's offices to steal parts for Annika's computer."

Annika grinned. "I just love it when she upgrades my laptop, too. By now I think I could hack into anything!" She moved towards the door as she spoke, reaching out to opening half an inch and doing a quick glance up and down the corridor.

Chaos moved to stand behind her and strained her hearing. "There's one of those marines nearby, but it's clear."

"Agreed," Katrict'a nodded, shoving the door completely open and stepping out into the corridor, a mischivous smirk settling on her lips as she glanced back at her two friends. "I just hope Ash'eld'uir didn't go scream at the others. Cuz if he did, Tara's not gonna be in the best of moods."

"That's assuming she survived the encounter," Chaos added, glancing back at Rakur'a when he chuckled softly. "What?"

"You two seemed to have found yourself another huntsman while I was away," he rumbled, smiling when they turned to look at him in shock, knowing that what he had said could mean that he was insulted by their actions. "No, no. It's alright. I'm not offended. Though, I would like a moment of your time, Sakaen'i."

Annika smirked and winked at Chaos. "You have fun," she teased, seeing her friend's cheeks redden slightly before the dark haired woman launched a punch at her. Laughing, she danced out of range, then ran down the corridor before Chaos could get a hold of her. She had been teasing Nyoko about Rakur'a for years, ever since the trio had come together and the two had shown an amazing ability to seemingly communicate silently during fights, the two of them often spending time together honing their skills.

Grumbling under her breath, Chaos folded her arms over her chest and huffed, glaring after Annika and then at Rakur'a, when he chuckled softly. "You shut up."

He churred at her in amusement, and beckoned for her to follow him as he went back into his quarters, hearing her heavy-hearted sigh as she stepped back inside. "Just after I found out that you were sent off-world, I managed to retrieve a few of your things. I saved some of what your father tried to have destroyed."

That perked her interest, and she slowly lowered her arms as she watched him crouch and open a large trunk at the base of his bed, rummaging through numerous weapons and documents along with a few yautja datapads before he pulled out a package wrapped in soft leather, straightening after he had closed the trunk again. Curious now, she crept forward as he set the bundle on his bed, her eyes widening as she watched him unwrap it, the bright gleaming edges of the sets of throwing stars and knives bringing a grin to her face. "My weapons! I thought I'd lost them!"

"I knew you wouldn't have willingly left these behind," he told her as he watched her palm one of the knives and twirl it in her fingers before it vanished from her grip, a low 'thunk' drawing his gaze to the far wall, where said knife was embedded into the wall. "Sakaen'i, must I constantly remind you not to make holes in the ships' hull?"

She grinned happily and grabbed the thigh and arm sheaths for the knives and stars, sliding the throwing weapons into their appropriate places. "Yes," she snickered, gathering the seven sheathes and turning to look at him when he clicked his mandibles together in an amused rattle, his right hand lightly resting on her shoulder as she turned to look at him. "Thank you so much."

"You're welcome," he rumbled, tilting his head to the side as he looked down at her. "Tell me, how deep is the rift between you and your sire? Will it put you in danger on this mission if you're forced to work alongside him?"

The question made her pause, her mind whirling at the sudden sharp change in subject. "My personal feelings aren't up for discussion, Rakur'a," she answered, eyeing him warily.

He shook his head and stared at her, his sharp gaze cutting into her. "Sakaen'i, are we huntsmen or not? Even after all these years surely you know that I will stand by your side no matter what decision you make, but I need to know ahead of time if you plan to raise trouble with the Human Pack." When she frowned and looked away, he growled and reached out to grasp her chin, forcing her to look at him. "Answer me, Sakaen'i."

"Do you want the actual truth or would a lie be better?"

"_Sakaen'i._"

She smirked at that, but answered just the same. "If worse comes to worse... my place is with my friends and the yautja," she reluctantly admitted, raising her gaze to meet his. "Not my father."

A heavy sigh left the massive warrior at that, though he did nod in understanding. "So be it. Although you cannot hope to ignore him for the rest of your life."

Her eyes glinted dangerously. "Watch me," she growled softly, fingering one of throwing knives she had before she turned and went to yank the knife she had thrown out of the wall. "I'm gonna go meet up with the others. You coming?"

He shook his head at her stubbornness and sighed. "Yes. I'll join you. But Sakaen'i?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't forget that I'm on your side, no matter what happens."

She looked up at him and smiled. "I know that, Rakur'a. Besides, out of everyone here, you're still the one I trust the most, so don't you forget that."

A low chuckle left him at that, and he playfully ruffled her short locks as he stepped past her. "I doubt you'd let me forget such a thing, Nyoko." He saw her fight back a wince and frowned, giving her a sidelong glance as he paused at the door. "What was that for?"

"It's just... no one really calls me that anymore. On Gilnor, everyone called me Chaos."

"Chaos? Is that what the tattoo stands for then?"

"Yeah. It's alright though. I just have to get used to people calling me that again."

"The others you spoke of, your friends, they don't call you by your given name?" When she shook her head, he clicked his mandibles together in disapproval, but didn't say anything, unsure of what to say since he hadn't any real idea what had happened to her on Gilnor during those three years. Instead, he merely gestured for her to preceed him into the corridor, letting her lead the way to the human's quarters as he made small talk with her, telling her of his most recent Hunt and the trophies he had mananged to glean from it.

By the time they reached the proper quarters, Chaos was chuckling softly as she listened to him recount what he had seen of the new UnBlooded warriors that were being trained, her own memories of when they were mere students under Ash'eld'uir's teachings only adding to her amusement. "You think they're all doomed, hmm? Well _I_ remember a certain someone who used to be rather good at tripping over his own feet during katas."

He winced. "That was a long time ago," he protested, not liking the evil snicker that came from her. "Besides, _you_ weren't exactly a model student. 'Chaos' is a rather fitting name actually, considering the complete mayhem you and Katric'ta used to bring to the sparring sessions."

"It was fun though," she mused wistfully. "I miss those days. I really do."

"Getting nostalgic in your old age, I see."

Chaos narrowed her eyes at the barb and stepped aside as Maverick rollerbladed past her, the pilot's hazel gaze dancing in amusement. "_You_ have been spending too much time with Tara. And for God's sake, don't rollerblade around the ship. Ash'eld'uir's already in a bad mood."

"Heard about that," Mav grinned. "Also heard that it was _your_ fault."

"Is was not. Technically it was Annika that..." she felt Rakur'a's gaze on her and flushed. "Nevermind! Maverick, meet Rakur'a. Rakur'a, this here's the wacko that flew us to Hunter's Planet. Granted she almost got us _killed..._"

"Okay, whoa, that was _not_ my fault! That building was _not_ there when I first looked."

"How have you managed to survive this long?" Rakur'a chuckled, laughing harder when Sakaen'i punched him in the arm.

"Oh yes, he's defiantely _your_ friend," Mav smirked, ducking a smack from Chaos as she hauled open the door to their shared quarters and ducked inside. "Chaos' back!"

Tara looked up from where she was rewiring a communicator and grinned. "Hey you. Have fun getting in trouble without me?"

"Of course she did," Annika said with a roll of her eyes, never really taking her full attention off the screen of her computer. "It's her new hobby."

"As if _you_ should talk," Ray grumbled. "You two left us here to get yelled at by Ash'eld'uir!"

"I don't want to know, do I?" Chaos sighed, reaching up to pinch the bridge of her nose when Tara snickered. "God give me strength, what have I gotten myself into?" Shaking her head, she stepped over Ray as he finished loading up a magazine of ammunition and gestured to Rakur'a. "Everyone, meet Rakur'a. Please try not to embarrass Annika and I."

"We resent that," Tara muttered as she rose her gaze to the Predator and saluted with the screwdriver she was holding. "Hey. Welcome to the insanity. That there's Maverick, and that's Ray. Sypher's out tormenting... whatever-the-hell-his-name-was--"

"Cha'roth," Annika supplied.

"Right. Well, either way, you'll have the misfortune of meeting her in about half-an-hour."

"She's coming back that early?" Chaos frowned, groaning when Tara nodded. "Great. Just great. Annika..."

"I know, I know. Keep her away from you, I know the drill. I honestly don't know why you can't try to put up with her. It's not like she's not contributing anything. She's one of the best hackers that I know of."

"Maybe it's because the girl is a certifiable pain in the ass," Maverick growled. "She's gonna get us all killed, I swear it."

"If she's such a hindrence, why bring her along?" Rakur'a asked as he moved to sit next to Annika, who sighed at his question.

"Because no matter what we think of her, we need her," Chaos said sternly, glancing at Maverick sharply. "We need her computer skills or else we'll never break into Evanston's computer files. That way, if both Annika and Sypher hack into it together, there's twice the chance that they'll be able to bypass all the security he has and get to the information that we need."

Mav winced at the reminder and sulked as she turned her attention over to Tara, helping the redhead work on the communicators. "Yeah, yeah. I know."

Annika rolled her eyes and looked over at Rakur'a. "Y'know, I'm amazed Ash'eld'uir didn't kill the lot of us the second we set foot on his ship. Really, I am."

Groaning, Chaos collapsed down onto the bed next to Annika and threw an arm over her eyes. "I am so going to need a vacation when this is all over. Either that or a lot of medication."

"Let's aim for a bit of both and add in the hope that we come out of this alive," Tara grinned. "Besides, this is _fun._ I can't think of the last time we actually did something exciting!"

Ray turned and stared at her in disbelief. "There is something seriously wrong with you. Just two days ago we nearly got _shot_, we staged a near take-over of Hunter's Planet security, got into more fights that almost got us shot, and you _still_ want something else to happen to us!"

She shrugged. "I'm bored." When everyone except Rakur'a groaned and threw things at her, she glared and folded her arms over her chest. "Funsuckers, the whole lot of you."

Blinking, the Predator looked at his two friends and arched an eyeridge. "Honestly, where do you find people like this?"

"I really don't know," Annika shrugged. "We attract weirdness. At the very least, it made living on Gilnor interesting."

"Interesting? There's an understatement," Ray grumbled. "It's a miracle we weren't killed, or arrested, which would have been worse. Especially after Chaos got pissed and took out that entire gang."

"I gave them full warning that they were getting on my nerves," Chaos said simply as she regarded her painted nails. "Besides, I needed to get into a decent fight."

"But you didn't need to drag the rest of us down with you!" Ray protested, falling silent when she rose her head and glared at him icily. "Shutting up now."

"So this is what Gar'essar meant when he said you were a Leader," Rakur'a chuckled, reaching over to tug at the braid in Sakaen'i's hair. "I didn't know you had gathered your own human Pack, Sakaen'i."

"Neither did I, actually," she muttered as she sat up and rubbed at the back of her neck. "It just, kinda happened. Besides, I'm used to looking out for these guys, especially Tara."

"Aww, I feel so loved," the redhead winked with a grin. "Here. Catch." She tossed one of the new communicators to her and smirked when Chaos snatched it out of the air. "All spruced up and ready to go. Notice the new eyepiece. It's got the same multi-vision modes that the Pred masks have, and the comm system's a hell of a lot better thanks to the stuff we lifted from those storage rooms."

"Lifted?" Frowning, Rakur'a looked towards Chaos, growling when she did a grand job of avoiding his gaze. "Sakaen'i... stealing is far from honourable."

"We didn't have time to go through proper channels," Annika told him. "We were bring chased by security and quite frankly, they wouldn't have given us the things we needed even if we had asked."

"Besides, we didn't mess around with the often used stuff. Just whatever we could scrounge up in the storage rooms," Tara added, watching Chaos as her friend put on the headset and adjusted the small red lense attached to it so that it was in front of her left eye. "So?"

"Brilliant," Chaos grinned, her fingers lightly touching the small controls near her ear that would run through the various vision modes, her other hand fixing the small mic so that it was close to her cheek. "It's perfect. Good work."

"I aim to please," Tara said as she did a mock bow. "And, Rakur'a? No offence, but you haven't led the life that I have. Sometimes, stealing is the only way to survive. So until the day comes that you have to live on the streets cuz you can't go home, please don't look at me as if I'm some disgusting thing that's obscuring your view of the wall behind me."

He scowled at that, surprised that she had the nerve to speak to him thus. A sharp retort was already building when Katric'ta grasped his arm, the touch making him look at her in time to see her shake her head. Annoyed, he reigned in his anger, trusting Annika's judgement on this, aware that she and Sakaen'i probably knew things about this human that he didn't. Even so, he was planning on having them explain their request, a fact that Chaos obviously already knew, judging by her expression.

"So, um, how long till we reach the Qyitoni system anyway?" Ray asked quickly, very aware of the rising tension in the room.

"Another twelve hours, give or take an hour," Annika sighed, suddenly very aware of how long those twelve hours were going to be. "We should try to get some sleep somewhere in there too, it'll be the last decent sleep we have for a while."

Chaos echoed Annika's sigh and got to her feet, returning the headset to Tara before she stretched sore muscles. "I'd better go face the music then and go talk to Ash'eld'uir then. M'gonna have to get permission from him before you and Sypher use your hacking skills to amp the ships sensors."

"Aw hell. I forgot about that. I'll go with you, then." Shaking her head at her forgetfulness, Annika logged off of her laptop and set it aside, pausing to rub the kink out of her neck before standing. "Oof, my poor back. You coming with us, Rakur'a or are you staying here?"

"Judging by how angry Ash'eld'uir was and probably still is, I'll go with you," he rumbled. "And, all things considered, I think you should request that your friends be allowed to fully arm themselves. This ship's armory has various weapons that were specially tailored for humans."

"Good idea. I'd feel better with a decent sword strapped to my hip," Annika admitted, exchanging glances with Chaos. "And so would you, I bet."

"You'd bet right. Okay, c'mon, let's go see if we can get ourselves out of trouble. Again."

"Can I come?" Tara asked, seeing the trio pause at the door and glance back at her. "I won't make any trouble. It's just, y'know, we're like sisters, and this is a huge chunk of your life that I don't know anything about... and I'd like to understand it."

Rakur'a arched a brow ridge at that, suddenly getting a glimpse at how close Sakaen'i, Katric'ta and Tara were. Sisters, she had said. A bond that was just as strong as the one he and the two Blooded humans had forged years ago. "Yes," he said finally, drawing his two huntsmen's surprised looks. "You're more than welcome to join us, Tara."

Startled, but pleased, she gave him a thankful smile and vaulted over an equally surprised Ray, waving to the two she was leaving behind as she followed the trio out the door. "See y'all later."

Maverick quirked an eyebrow as the door slammed shut, then looked at Ray. "We've been ditched."

Chaos hid a wince as Ash'eld'uir's voice hit a certain pitch that was as close to shrieking as a yautja voice could go and tried to keep her gaze lowered as he chewed both her and Annika out for their little 'improvisation' from before. She was aware of Tara plastering herself against the wall in order to stay out of the pacing Leader's way and inwardly wished that she could simply tell him to shut up and cope with it. While his back was turned for a moment, she shot a pitiful look towards Rakur'a, who twitched a mandible in reply, a sort of silent 'deal with it'. _Crap. Crap. Crap. Why do I always get myself into situations like this?_

Beside her, Annika also tried her best to hide a grimace of annoyance, except unlike Chaos, she didn't pick her time very well. In seconds, she had a rather pissed Predator mere inches from her face, his breath ruffling her bangs as he growled lowly, his mandibles actually brushing her cheeks.

Yelping, Tara grabbed Annika's arm and yanked her away from the big Predator, not understanding what had been going on since he had been speaking in the yautja tongue. In the end, she only made things worse, as now Ash'eld'uir's wrath was also turned on her as she pushed a protesting Annika behind her and started backing away.

Cursing inwardly, Chaos quickly sidestepped in front of her two friends, fighting the instinct to unsheathe her wrist knives as she did so. "Ash'eld'uir, this is getting us nowhere," she said softly, making sure to keep her tone respectful and even as she willingly took the heat off of Tara and Annika. "In less than twelve hours we're going to be walking into God only knows what kind of mess. I'll take full responsibility for what happened, and you can bounce me off some more walls when all this is over, but for right now I really think we all have to get our priorities straight."

A low growl rumbled out of him as he stared down at her, amazed at her sheer gall. Still, a part of him admired his student, remembering a time when she would have balked at standing up for herself. She had changed so much in the years that he had known her, and while he was still angry with the two Blooded humans, what Sakaen'i said did make sense, and despite the urge to rebuke her for her audacity, he reigned in his temper and nodded curtly. "You're still wise beyond your years, young one."

Annika heaved a silent sigh of relief, then whacked Tara, whispering harshly. "Don't ever pull a stunt like that again! God, you nearly gave me a heart-attack!"

"Gave _you_ a heart attack? Hell, I nearly gave myself one!" Tara gasped, raising a hand to her heart before looking at her friend. "Are you alright?"

"Am _I_ alright! Dear God, are you completely daft!"

Chaos sighed and rose a hand to her aching temple. "Guys, give it a rest already, will you?" she muttered, shooting them a glare before she turned to look over at Ash'eld'uir who returned her look with a hint of dark annoyance. _I am so going to get it when all this is over._ "I forgot to warn her about what was going to happen. Sorry 'bout that."

"Anyway," Annika said as she stepped around a still shaken Tara. "We need your permission to use the ships' computers. See, Sypher and I figured out a way to amplify the sensors, but we need access to the main computer."

"And I need permission to take my people into the armory," Chaos added. "Rakur'a was telling me how you still have some weapons fitted for humans, and since Sanchez and his guys brought their own stuff, then you've got things to spare that we could use."

"Was he now?" Ash'eld'uir looked over at Rakur'a, who shrugged, then looked back to the humans and folded his arms over his chest. "I have no objections about you going into the armory, but I definately want to hear more about what you plan to do to the computers, Katric'ta."

"It's really simple. I've been spending the last few hours writing up a program that'll integrate my computer into the ships' system without crashing anything. The program's specially made so that both our technologys will be able to work together seemlessly. Once I get my computer hooked up, Sypher and I will make up a quick network and then work together to amp up the sensors and--"

Tara exchanged curious glances with Chaos as Annika started to technobabble, receiving a baffled shrug as a response. Apparently only Annika and Sypher could understand this sort of insane language. Hell, even Ash'eld'uir looked like he was completely lost. "Annika! Annika, in a language that we can understand! Dumb it down for God's sake!"

Annika shot her an annoyed glare. "That _was_ dumbed down."

"_Damn..._"

"I resent that."

"Enough." Hiding the fact that even he didn't have a good enough grasp on the human language to understand what Annika had been saying, Ash'eld'uir rose a hand to silence them and sighed at the ache that was growing in his head. "Annika, _test_ your theory on one of the lesser systems and return to me with the results. I'll decide then whether or not you can try to amplify the ships' sensors. As for the armory, Sakaen'i, Rakur'a, you're both responsible for teaching your Pack how to utilise the traditional yautja weaponry as well as whatever else they choose to take."

Chaos bowed her head. "Yes, Leader."

"Oh, you're talking about that armband computer thing right? On that's easy to learn, Chaos already showed us that when she lent me--"

Alarmed, Rakur'a quickly slapped a hand over Tara's mouth to silence her and started backing away from Ash'eld'uir as the Leader turned a scathing glare onto Sakaen'i, who chuckled nervously before grabbing Annika.

"Um... I think I heard Maverick calling us!" Annika blurted before she and the others bolted from the room, Rakur'a even going as far as to lift Tara off the ground and tuck her under an arm as he ran. "Tara! You moron!"

"_Sakaen'i!_"

Chaos paled as Ash'eld'uir's roar echoed off the corridor walls and poured on the speed. "Gangway, dead human runnin', comin' through!" she yelled as she ducked around Rakur'a and skidded around a corner, nearly running Sanchez over in the process before she regained her balance and threw herself into their shared quarters, waiting until the others had joined her before closing and firmly locking the door. "Tara, _what_ did I tell you about that?"

"Um... not to say anything because Ash'eld'uir would kill you?" the redhead answered meekly as Rakur'a set her on her feet and leaned against the door, raising a hand to massage his temple. "I didn't mean to! Honest!"

Annika groaned and lowered her face into her hands. "We're all gonna die before we even _reach_ Qyitoni."

Maverick, meanwhile, joined Ray in merely watching things unfold, smirking when she figured out what was going on. "She said something about that armband thing, didn't she?"

"How many people did you _tell?_" Rakur'a growled, looking over at Sakaen'i sharply. "You know that it's forbidden to show outsiders our technology!"

"I know! _I know!_" Chaos pressed the heels of her hands against her forehead and tried to quell the urge to kill something. "But they're not outsiders! They're my friends! _My_ Pack! Tara's no more an outsider to me than you are, Rakur'a!"

"Alright, alright," he made calming motions towards her as her voice rose and drew her next to him as he sat on the edge of the bed. "I take it that Ash'eld'uir doesn't know that."

"No," Annika answered sulkily. "We didn't have a chance to tell him."

"Looks like we're going to have the chance," Chaos mumbled as a loud pounding sounded on the door.

"I said I was sorry!" Tara wailed, falling silent when Maverick grabbed her arm yanked her down to sit on the floor with her and Ray.

"Someone get the door before he knocks it down," Mav said as she slung an arm around Tara's shoulders and held her miserable friend to herself.

Annika sighed and squared her shoulders before going to unlock the door and opening it, wincing at the glare that immediately fell on her. _I'm mighty sick of this._ "Alright look, yeah, we broke the rule, but you don't understand, they--" she cut herself off with a grunt when he pushed her aside and stepped into the room, then let her own temper take hold. "_Hey! _I was talkin' over here!" When everyone turned to look at her in mixed shock and one count of rage, she placed her left hand on her hip and let go. "Look, a lot of things changed while we were on Gilnor! And if you'd give us a chance to explain what happened, then you wouldn't have to run in here all ready to kill the lot of us! Gilnor was hell, alright? It was the most depressing place we could have been sent to, and we got lucky, because we found some really good friends there. Three years of being with someone makes us humans really close. Ray and Tara are like family to Chaos and I. They're our Pack, our friends. We've been through hell and back, all of us, and as far as Chaos an I are concerned, that means that we don't keep secrets from each other."

"_Who_ or_ what _is 'Chaos'?" Ash'eld'uir growled.

"That would be me," Nyoko said, drawing his gaze. "It's the name I took up on Gilnor when Tara, Annika and I made a blood pact to become sisters. These people are my friends, my family, Ash'eld'uir. I won't hide things from them."

He took in a breath and held it for a heartbeat before he sighed. "Why didn't you tell me this sooner?"

"You didn't give us much of a chance," Annika grumbled. "Between you and Chaos' father we don't know who the hell we _can_ talk to anymore. Execpt Rakur'a, but we haven't had the chance to tell him everything yet."

The Leader shot a glance at the other Hunter, who returned his gaze steadily. It could be taken as a challenge, but Ash'eld'uir let it go, more interested in what the two Blooded humans were mentioning. "You can speak with me, you know that."

"Do we?" Maverick shot. "Do we really? Cuz so far it certainly doesn't look that way."

He would have risen to the barb had he not known how to read his two students, able to see their insecurity with him. It was something he didn't like seeing, not in the two he had come to know so well. "Alright," he rumbled, closing the door behind himself before going to sit on the second bed, across from Sakaen'i and Rakur'a. "I'm listening."

TBC


	12. Courage

Author's Note: Hey all. I know I've been gone a while. The muse was simply not there. I can't say if I'll be able to come up with constant updates, but I promise to give you chapters as soon as I write them out. --Lashana

Disclaimer: I don't own Alien or Predator.

Chapter 12

"Sakaen'i, are you alright?"

Chaos tensed from where she was standing in the armory, shifting through the various human-sized weapons available. She had left the quarters midway through the lengthy explainations, already knowing the long, depressing stories of her friends and herself, needing some time alone to regain her stability before she would have to commit herself to the mission fully. It seemed that either Annika had cut things short or Rakur'a had left soon after she had, and she found herself wishing that he had stayed behind. "I'm fine."

"Don't lie to me," he growled, meeting her gaze when she turned to look at him.

"Well what," she snapped, "do you want me to tell you? How living on Gilnor nearly drove me to kill myself? Or would you like to hear about my father? The person who can't stand the sight of me and thinks that I'm some sort of hybrid freak? Of course there's always my mother, who could be dead or dying at the hands of a lunatic, you wanna hear about that!"

Her voice cracked near the end of her tirade, the only other outward emotion other than anger that she was showing, and he knew that it was just a charade to hide the fact that she was restraining herself from breaking down. Deciding that the risk of receiving a broken mandible was worth it, he walked over to her and dared to rest a hand on her shoulder, very aware that her temper was rather volitile when she was like this. Instead of the expected hit, he felt her tense and saw her rest her hands on the shelf to keep them from shaking. "Sakaen'i."

"I can't do this," she whispered, her hair hiding her face as she closed her eyes and hung her head. "I can't keep doing this. I'm not the same as I was three years ago."

"I know," he rumbled, lowering his hand to touch the inside of her right wrist, feeling the puckered scar there. "But you're not alone. I'll help you if you let me."

"Why? By your laws aren't I dishonoured or something like that?"

He sighed and shook his head. "My people's laws stopped having any meaning to me a long time ago, Sakaen'i. Around the time that a certain human helped me perfect the use of a spear." He tilted his head to the side and gently grasped her chin, turning her head so that he could meet her gaze. "Don't push me away, Nyoko."

She tried to turn away, but gave up when he tightened his hold on her, only relenting when he murred at her, a low comforting sound that he always used to wear away her stubbornness in matters such as these. Finally, she sighed and turned to throw her arms around his middle, burying her face against his chest as he relaxed and slid his arms around her, returning the embrace.

Knowing that it was better to wait to speak only when she pulled away, he let her cling to him, remembering a time where she had come to him in tears because her father had forbidden her to go through with her Blooding Rite. Crying was something of a mystery to him, it was a thing that he knew little of, other than the knowledge that it was a release of extreme pain or emotion, something that was usually credited only to the very young, but with humans, it was something that all ages gave into from time to time.

It was a few more moments before she loosened her hold on him, and he gently rose a hand to wipe the moisture from her cheeks, always surprised at the soft delicateness of her skin, such a sharp contrast to the strength he knew she possessed. "Better?" he murmured, brushing her hair back from her face as he looked down at her. When she nodded, he gently pried her arms from around him and crouched to be at her eye level, frowning at her at he rested his hands on her shoulders. "Good. Now, promise me you'll let me help you, Sakaen'i. With anything."

She smiled a little at that and nodded, sniffling as she rose a hand to dry her eyes. "You might end up regretting that, though."

"I doubt that," he rumbled, mandibles clattering open in an approximation of a human grin before he yanked her close for a brief hug, then held her out at arms length again, taking a moment to assess her to make sure she was better. Satisfied, he rose to his full height and turned his attention to the weapons she had been gathering for herself, eyeing the human katana she had chosen critically for any problems with the blade before he unsheathed the wicked curved dagger next to it, recognising it as one of the knives she had become well versed in using when she was training.

"I can check my own weapons you know," Chaos said wryly as she folded her arms over her chest and arched an eyebrow at him. "And yes, those are the only blades I'll have aside from my wrist knives and throwing stars."

"Are you taking one of the human guns then?"

"Two actually. One handgun and one of the regulation style rifles that the marines have."

He nodded in approval and held out the blades to her, content that she was going to be well armed. "Good. We'll have to bring the others here as soon as Annika is finished speaking to Ash'eld'uir. He will not be taking that," he pointed to her wrist, "lightly."

"Didn't think he would," she admitted. "That's partially why I left."

"Partially?"

"I... didn't want to be there when you found out either."

"I can't say that it didn't bother me, Sakaen'i. But... I'm glad that I didn't lose you." He grasped her right arm and gently rose it, inspecting the scar that was barely visible at the edge of the gauntlet she was wearing. "Shall we go back?"

"No need."

They both turned at the rumble, and Chaos took a wary step back when she saw Ash'eld'uir in the archway, feeling Rakur'a rest a hand on the small of her back to keep her from backing away any further.

"Ah, Sakaen'i." Sighing, the big Predator walked over to her and frowned down at her, copying Rakur'a's earlier motion and taking her right hand, turning it over to stare at the scar. "If I had known, I wouldn't have allowed them to force you off the planet."

"I know," she said, curling her fingers inwards when he traced the thin white line with the tip of a talon. "It's done though. I left this part of my life behind almost two years ago."

Ash'eld'uir nodded in understanding and released her. "I... should have let you explain about the gauntlet. You and Katric'ta should always feel that you can trust me. That I made it seem otherwise..." He shook his head slightly and rested a hand on her shoulder. "You've done well by your Pack, Sakaen'i. I'm curious to see the lot of you working as a team. Other than the marines, I've not seen another Pack of human warriors."

"We're not like any other Pack you've seen," she warned.

"Good. I'm counting on that. Your... friends should be here shortly."

"We've been here all along," Annika said as she poked her head into the room. "We were just giving you a little time to yourselves. Can we come in now?"

He glanced at the small group and motioned for them to come into the room, fighting back a bought of laughter at the sight of them peeking around the doorway. "Try to 'pack lightly' as it were. We'll probably be covering a lot of ground in a short period of time."

"Oh, I've died and gone to heaven," Tara whispered happily as she stared into the armory.

"Weapons freak," Maverick smirked, ducking the smack that the redhead aimed at her.

"At least _pretend_ to be mature," Annika growled at them as she immediately grabbed the sword she had become used to during her weapons' training, the sleek three foot long blade with the two foot long thinner section attached gleaming in the dull light. Spikes adorned the handled hilt, and the tip of the tang, making it a truly vicious looking weapon.

Rakur'a rolled his eyes at the mutters that came from the others and playfully shoved Sakaen'i in their direction, chuckling when she immediately caught herself and spun in a fluid motion to glare at him in mock annoyance.

"So, um... where are the..." Tara pointed to the wrist blades that Annika was wearing and looked at Rakur'a expectantly.

"Here," Chaos smiled, grabbing one off the shelf and taking her friend's right hand, carefully sliding the gauntlet onto her arm. "You make a fist and pop your wrist forward to unsheath the blades. Then relax your arm to sheath them." She paused and glanced at Ash'eld'uir. "Do you think we'll need the um... shift suits?"

He thought about that for a moment, then nodded. "All things considered, it wouldn't hurt to have them. We don't know what the situation will be on the planet."

"My thoughts exactly," Annika grinned as she sheathed her sword and slung it's attached belt over her shoulder, eyeing the other various weapons before shrugging and grabbing a plain dagger. "Mav? You're not taking anything?"

"Me? Nah. I'll stick with the stuff I know. I can shoot a fly out from between it's wings but I'm useless with a blade. I'm stickin' with my guns, thank you very much."

"Your loss," Tara shrugged as she picked up a dagger, unsheathed it and twirled it, a slow grin spreading over her lips as she wrapped her fingers around the hilt and weighed it. "Nice."

Annika's eyes widened. "Where the hell did you learn to do that?"

"That's for me to know and for you to find out," the redhead grinned as she resheathed the blade and hooked the entire thing under her belt. "But I taught it to, Ray."

"Is there anything else you haven't told us?" Rakur'a asked curiously, sighing when she merely smiled and shrugged. "I'll take that as a 'yes'."

"Lovely," Chaos muttered sourly. "Tara, I swear, once we get down there, if you start pulling some of the psychotic stunts that I've seen you do, I will tie you to the closest available tree and _leave_ you there. Got that?"

"Loud and clear, boss lady," Tara beamed as she mock saluted her, snickering as she turned back to the shelves. "I'll just think of something new."

"I heard that," Ash'eld'uir growled, rumbling in amusement when she glanced at him in surprise. "Good hearing."

"No shit."

"Tara, for God's sake," Mav sighed. "_Try_ to be polite, huh?"

Ray looked over at the pilot and smirked. "For Tara, that was polite."

"I resent that!"

"That's it," Chaos muttered. "I'm gonna go get some sleep. No one hack off any limbs while I'm asleep, okay?"

"Oh there's a positive thought," Ray grumbled, catching the grin she sent him as she ducked around Ash'eld'uir and headed out of the armory. "And she complains about us."

"Actually," the Leader rumbled as he turned to follow her. "All I've heard from her so far is praise." He gave the yautja equivalent of a smirk to Rakur'a as he headed after Sakaen'i, easily catching up to her with a few long strides. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. I'm okay. Just tired. I haven't really had a chance to get a decent sleep in over twenty hours, and so far this trip has been an emotional rollercoaster. I just need a few hours rest before we reach, Qyitoni."

He nodded in understanding. "Come and find me when you wake. By then I'll have Sanchez' full report on what they have on the Qyitoni system. I'd like to..." he paused and searched his memory for the right saying. "Compare notes."

"Sure thing. I'll be there."

"Good." He gestured to the quarters that she and her Pack were using. "Get some rest. This will be a long mission."

She nodded and ducked into the room, closing the door behind her before she set her blades aside and stretched out on the bed, yawning softly as she curled an arm under her head and forced herself to relax. Sleep had almost claimed her when the door slid open again, causing her to crack an eye open to look at Sypher as the hacker walked into the room. _Crap._

"Chaos? Like, what're you doing here?"

"Trying to sleep," she mumbled, rolling over and hoping that Sypher would leave things at that. Stupid her.

"Like, you would not be_lieve_ the time I've had!" Sypher grinned as she moved to sit lotus style on the bed, poking Chaos until the woman rolled over to look at her. "I just spent the most romantic night of my life with a man who isn't even the same species!"

Chaos blinked. _Romantic? What the hell..._ "What are you _talking_ about?" she muttered as she resolved herself to wakefulness and sat up, rubbing at her head. "What was romantic?"

"Cha'roth!" the hacker smiled, missing the complete look of disbelief on the Blooded human's face as she spoke. "He showed me everything! It was wonderful."

"C-cha'roth was... _romantic!_ Sypher, what are you _talking_ about!"

"He gave me a tour of the entire ship. Showed me the stars..."

"Um... right." Certain that the hacker had completely lost her mind, Chaos lay down again and hid her face against her arms. "Look, I need to sleep, else I'll be useless when we land. The others'll be back soon."

"But I have to _tell you!_" the hacker whined, shaking the woman violently. "Like, come _on_. This was, like, a major milestone of my life! Can't ya even lookit me?"

She groaned in defeat and got to her feet. "Sypher. I. Need. To. Sleep." She growled and yanked the door open, surprising Ray and the others. "Enjoy," she muttered, gesturing to Sypher as she pushed past them, glad to see that Rakur'a wasn't with them. "I'm gonna go find a place to sleep."

Annika blinked and stared after her friend for a moment before returning her gaze to Sypher. "Right..."

Ignoring all the calls from her friends, Chaos stomped through the corridors until she was at Rakur'a's quarters, resolutely raising a fist to pound on the door. When there was no answer, she carefully peeked inside, saw that it was empty, and figured that this was her best chance for a nap that was going to be given to her. Knowing that Rakur'a wouldn't really mind, she let herself in and closed the door behind her, making herself at home as she threw herself down onto the hard cot of his bed and pillowed her head on her arms.

She was asleep within minutes.

A low clicking sound woke her untold hours later, and she spent a moment fighting consciousness before she buried her face in her arms and yawned, raising a hand to scratch an itch on her scalp.

"It's about time you wake up."

She cracked an eye open and looked at Rakur'a, blinking in confusion for a moment when she saw that they were nearly at eye level with each other before it dawned on her that he was sitting on the floor. "Mm. What time's'it?"

"An hour before we reach Qyitoni," he told her as he turned away from cleaning his armor to look at her. "I was actually just about to wake you. Nice of you to visit, by the way."

Mumbling out an apology, she rose a hand to massage the back of her neck and sat up. "Sypher wouldn't let me sleep. I swear I'm gonna drop kick that woman out of an airlock."

He chuckled at that and shook his head slightly. "She can't be that bad."

"No? Well how about this : she thinks Cha'roth was being romantic when he was showing her around the ship."

There was a stretch of silence before he spoke. "Is she... I mean, _how_... Is that normal?"

She snickered at his confused expression. "No."

"..._romantic?_"

"That was my reaction too," Chaos smirked as she raked her nails through her hair. "Ugh, I should go. I have to get changed and Ash'eld'uir told me to go see him after I woke up."

He still couldn't wrap his mind around what she had told him. "That's considered romantic?"

Laughing now, she gave him a playful shove and got to her feet, stretching with a tired groan. "For some people, I suppose it could be. Why?"

"It's... weird. We don't have 'romance'. It doesn't make sense. Is it essential for a mating?"

She arched a single eyebrow at him and tried to keep from laughing at his complete confusion. "For humans, yeah, it's preferable. And I ask again, why?"

Massive shoulders rose and fell in a shrug. "I'm curious."

"Uh huh. Sure." Her tone made it clear that she didn't fully believe him. "Anyway, I have to go. Thanks for letting me crash here for a while. I really needed it."

He smirked at her and nodded. "Anytime, Sakaen'i. Ash'eld'uir wants everyone on the bridge in half an hour, so you should hurry if you're to meet with him."

"Damn. Right, okay. Thanks!" Waving, she ran out the door and dashed for their shared quarters, nearly running Garessar over in the process as she swerved around him and skidded to a stop in front of the door, surprised at the silence that came from inside until she opened the door and looked at the five sleeping people. _Figures._ She saw Annika crack an eye open at the sound of the door opening and waved at her as she picked her way through the scattered electronics and weapons until she reached her backpack. "Time ta get up, 'Nikka. Ash'eld'uir wants everyone on the bridge in half an hour."

"Nurrgh..." Still half asleep, the pink haired hacker rose a hand to rub at her eyes and sat up from where she had slouched down in her sleep, groaning at the dull ache in her neck. "Where'd you go?"

"Crashed in Rakur'a's quarters," Chaos shrugged as she stripped out of her clothes and dug in her bag for brown jeans and a white tank top, hopping from foot to foot as she pulled the pants on. "I needed the rest."

"Hm." Yawning, Annika straightened fully and placed her hands at the small of her back, pushing against the ache there as she stretched. "So did I. Where're you headin' that's got you runnin' around like this?"

"Ash'eld'uir wants to see me," she answered as she pulled the white tank over her head and then shrugged into a holster for her handgun, adjusting it until it was snug and not liable to imped her movements. "Where're my blades? Oh, nevermind. I just saw them." The katana she belted around her waist, the sword hanging at her left hip. The dagger she tied to her right thigh, tightening the straps before starting to hide her throwing stars and knives amongst her outfit. After she had slid a magnum into the gun holster, she shrugged into a camoflage patterned shirt, leaving it unbuttoned as she rolled up the sleeves to her elbows. "You gonna be able to get these wackos up and coherant on your own."

A smirk spread over Annika's lips. "Hell yes. I'll scream them awake in a few minutes."

"Kewl." The last touch for the moment were the two metal throwing darts she put in her hair to hold the locks up from the back of her neck and free her vision of her bangs. Now armed and ready to roll, she tested her range of motion by doing a quick kata, nodding in approval when her weapons did nothing to imped her. "I shouldn't be long. Save one of those rifles for me, will ya?"

"No prob," Annika grinned, coping Tara's usual method of giving a mock salute. "Have fun."

Chaos smirked and rolled her eyes as she slid her boots back on and tied them, glad for the built-in rollerblades they hid. "Oh yeah. Loads." Grinning, she slipped out of the room and stood in the corridor for a moment before turning and heading for the _kehrite_, the training room. Her hunch proved right as she paused in the archway, keeping silent as she watched the Leader go through a complicated kata that was a seemless mix of traditional yautja fighting and various types of human martial arts. Once, she would have balked at being amongst males that trained in only loincloths, but bodyshyness was something that was quickly wiped out when one lived amongst these warriors.

She waited until he was finished before stepping into the room, immediately drawing his gaze as he sensed her presence. "Hey. You wanted me to come find you."

He turned to face her fully as she leaned back against a wall and slid her hands into her pockets, watching him calmly. He saw that she was already armed and prepared for the mission, and he guessed that her outward appearance hid numerous weapons, something that he knew was her habit when arming herself. Already, he could spot the throwing knives that were hidden under her shirt, the coolness of the metal a contrast against her body heat. "I see Rakur'a returned your throwing knives to you."

"Yeah," she smiled. "I'm glad they weren't destroyed. Especially considering that you're the one who gave them to me and all."

Years of living amongst humans had taught him to read more fully into them, so that he easily caught the hidden importance of those weapons to her, and he felt a small burst of pride warm him at the praise. "I would have found others for you had they been destroyed," he rumbled, watching her for her reaction and catching the slight smile that she gave him. Reaching out, he plucked a spear from the weapons rack he was standing next to and nodded to her, a silent order for her to arm herself.

She frowned a little but drew her sword, stepping onto the mats and falling into a ready stance as the spear whirled in his hands, becoming nearly invisible, so fast was it moving, but she wasn't worried. This wasn't going to be an overly serious match. Neither of them was willing to harm the other seriously enough that it would put their place in the mission in peril, and Ash'eld'uir had always held back when sparring with her, preferring to show her her mistakes instead of actually harming her.

As he stepped up in front of her, she altered her stance a little and held the blade directly in front of herself, a defensive stance that could very easily change to offensive in less time than it took one to blink. His low growl started the match, and when he didn't make any move to attack, she took the initiative. Two slight jabs into the whirl of the spear gave her enough information for her to attack, and she did so quickly before he could respond. Sliding the sword in at an angle, she caught the blade of the spear just below the hilt of her weapon and switched her grip to her left hand before she tilted her blade up and spun, aiming to sweep his legs out from under him.

Immediately, he shifted his weight and blocked her attack with an approving growl, freeing a hand to aim a solid punch to her ribs that would wind her just enough to knock her out of the fight. Her small stature and female grace saved her as she sidestepped, jerking her blade free of his as she hopped back out of his range, then lunged, ducking his suddenly unsheathed wrist blades before she set the flat of her sword against his spear and jumped, one hand slapping against his forehead as she hopped over him then aimed a kick at the small of his back.

Surprised at the maneuvore, he dropped to a crouch and swept his spear behind him, feeling it catch against her sword. Spinning around, he jerked her weapon from her hands, hearing the dull 'thunk' as it's blade sunk into and caught in the scarred wall of the _kehrite_.

Cursing, Chaos threw herself clear of the following jab and rolled to the side, her wrist blades flanging out in a metallic whisper as her left hand automatically went for her throwing knives. She lost valuabe seconds as she reminded herself that this wasn't supposed to be lethal and barely stopped herself from throwing the three knives in her hand, and Ash'eld'uir used those seconds to his advantage, rushing her before she could reorient herself. Sliding the knives back into the hidden sheath, she threw herself backwards into a backflip, then froze in mid flip and altered her course, slamming her feet into his stomach.

He grunted in surprise and took a step back as she dropped and rolled to her feet again, and he growled and went at her before she could rise, aiming a strong backhand at her head and stopping himself with his talons mere millimeter's from her flesh, playfully flicking her in the forehead. "Too slow, Sakaen'i."

Glaring at him, she jerked her head back and smirked as she dropped into another fighting stance. "Only because I had to stop myself from flinging three knives at your head," she countered, seeing him twitch a mandible in an attempt not to grin. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Make fun of the human." She dropped and swept his feet out from under him, hearing his grunt of surprise as he landed heavily then rolled into a crouch and attacked.

_Damn he's fast._ She caught his wrist blades on her own knives and barely avoided the blade of his spear before she grabbed her dagger and held it so that the flat of the blade was lying against her forearm, and she shifted her stance as he tried to overwhelm her with sheer brute strength. Just as the muscles in her back started protesting at the extra force, she levered her other arm up and made as if to slash at him, spinning away when the blade of the dagger hit the tough metal of the spear.

Her bangs had come loose sometime during the fight, and she irritably blew them out of her eyes as she caught the next attack on her wrist blades, grimacing when her boots slid on the mats at the force of the attack. He had dropped his spear beforehand, and now his free hand grabbed her left wrist, squeezing until she was forced to drop the dagger due to serious blood loss in her hand. Fighting her instincts to merely snapkick him in the groin and end the fight then and there, she twisted her hand free and spun so that her back was to his chest, her hands latching around his left arm as she shifted and dropped him to the mats, yelping when he used the motion to knock her off her feet along with him.

"Oh joy, I'm back on the floor..." she muttered with a groan, looking over at Ash'eld'uir when he chuckled and rose into a crouch, his wrist knives suddenly appearing millimeters from her eyes. "Yes, yes. I know. I lost, I'm rusty and when this is over you're gonna beat me back into shape."

"Of course, though you didn't lose. Your methods are certainly unexpected, but you won, fair enough."

"And you just felt that it was a good idea to have me slam onto the floor, because?"

"To keep you from becoming overconfident."

"Riiight." She waited until he had removed the deadly blades from her face before she pushed herself up on her elbows and looked at him as he shifted to sit lotus style across from her. "Why did you want to see me anyway?"

Ash'eld'uir frowned as he tried to think of how to properly word what he was going to say, knowing that she wasn't going to take it well. "Your father wanted me to talk to you." Immediately, her eyes narrowed, the muscles in her shoulders tensing, and he sighed at the sight. "Sakaen'i, do not take that attitude with me."

She stiffled a growl but obeyed, holding back her temper, but his order didn't stop her from lunging to her feet and going to retrieve her sword. "What the hell does Sanchez have to do with anything?"

"_Sakaen'i._"

Years of training had taught her to beware that tone of voice. "Ash'eld'uir, I don't know why he wanted you to talk to me but it's not gonna do any good. I don't want anything to do with him. I'll be civil during the mission but that's it. I'm sorry if it's not enough, Leader, I truly am," she paused and stared at her reflection in the blade of her sword, then shook her head and returned the weapon to the sheath that was hanging from her hip. "I'm not going to risk getting hurt again." Shivering, she held her right wrist to herself and closed her eyes. "I can't get hurt again...not like that."

He rose to his feet when he heard the waver in her voice, unnerved by the emotional distress he could hear and sense from her. This wasn't something that he was used to dealing with, emotional problems simply weren't something that happened to most yautja, and he had certainly never been close enough to a human to actually _care_ if they were in emotional pain or not. Sighing, he went to retrieve the spear and replace it on the rak of weapons, then walked over to her and rested his hands on her shoulders, staring down at her when she didn't acknowledge him. "I won't order you to speak with him, Sakaen'i. Only know that he has requested that I mediate any conversations the two of you have. Though I imagine that if you have your way you'll keep as much distance between the two of you as you can."

"...damn straight," she whispered. "I can't afford to have to deal with him right now. Finding my mother and the missing Pack is more important to me."

"There may be a time where he will take position as Leader on this mission," he warned her, squeezing her shoulders when he felt her tense even more. "Will you be able to handle that?"

"I'll be civil. That's all I can promise, Ash'eld'uir."

"Then that will have to do. And Sakaen'i?"

"Yes?"

He rose a hand and lightly trailed a knuckle over her cheek, her skin soft against his tougher hide. "Be strong," he rumbled, giving her shoulders a final squeeze before he pulled away and turned to leave. "Let the strength that lies hidden within you come to the surface, young one. Do not give in to your fears, and do not let them rule you. Instead, face them, and become the cunning warrior that I know you can be."

Chaos stared after him for a moment before a letting a slight smile grace her lips. _I've just received Ash'eld'uir's version of a peptalk, _she mused to herself as she popped her right wrist forward and let her gaze travel over the duo of wicked blades that had sprung free, meeting her own dark gaze that was being reflected back to her. _I can do this. I have to do this. And then maybe... after all this is over... maybe then I'll have the courage to face my father... _A rather psychotic grin replaced her smile, her eyes taking on a sort of firey inner light that made a low chuckle trickle out of her mouth. _Hell, yeah. Sounds like a plan._

TBC


	13. Landing Issues

Author's Note: Hey all. I know I've been gone a while. The muse was simply not there. I can't say if I'll be able to come up with constant updates, but I promise to give you chapters as soon as I write them out. --Lashana

Disclaimer: I don't own Alien or Predator.

Chapter 13

Mark Jaquays turned at the sound of laughter in time to see Ned's daughter walk onto the bridge, her group of friends flanking her as she moved to lean against the wall closest to the automated controls of the ship. She seemed almost indifferent to what was going on as she leaned back against the wall and folded her arms over her chest, but that image was destroyed by the sight of her dark gaze sweeping around the room, taking in everything that was taking place. She must have sensed his gaze on her, for a moment later he found himself pinned by an intense stare that never wavered, and he fought to keep from lowering his gaze, feeling that this was a test of some sort.

His instincts were still sharp, it seemed, for she gave him an approving smirk and nodded in greeting, a gesture that he returned. Only one other person had a gaze that could unnerve him like that, and he could already see a lot of Machiko Noguchi in Nyoko. Too much, perhaps. Or maybe just enough. Either way, he had passed her little test, and it seemed that he was in her good graces, something that relieved him greatly. He was very certain that he did _not_ want to be on her shit list.

Slater nudged him then, and he frowned as he looked over at his fellow marine and discovered that he was making kissy faces at him. Disgusted, he smacked him upside the head and shoved him into Marshall, who growled and shoved him back at him. Slater was the only one trained in first aid, in truth, the younger marine actually had his full Ph.D in emergency medicine, something that was bound to be of use in the near future.

A yelp from the direction of Chaos and her group drew his attention again, and he winced at the sight of a brightly dressed woman. Her rainbow dyed hair was pinned up into a messy ponytail, her bright pink blouse contrasting with the vibrant purple of her pants, and it seemed that he wasn't the only one worried about her choice of outfits, not with the way Annika and Chaos kept exchanging wary glances.

"Sypher, you can't wear that," Ray said for the fifth time in as many minutes. "It's too bright, too noticeable. You're a perfect target for a sniper!"

"But it's, like, the only outfit I brought!"

Maverick sighed and rose a hand to pinch the bridge of her nose. "God keep me from shooting her..."

"God's busy," Tara said cheerfully as she slung an arm around the pilot's shoulders. "Will ya settle for me?" Blue eyes sparkling with mischief, she looked over at Annika as the hacker worked at her newest program that would allow her to boost the ships' sensors and smirked at the faraway look her friend had, a sure sign that she was only paying attention to whatever was happpening on her computer screen. Sypher, when she wasn't chewing on her right index nail, was working along with Annika, the two computer know-it-alls working side by side, computer by computer, as they networked their computers and logged themselves into the Predators' main computer. "I feel left out."

"You and me both," Ray muttered sourly. "I have no idea what's going on, I have no idea how to help, and even if I did know how to help, no one would let me."

"Just stand there and look pretty," Tara smiled, socking him in the arm. "Strong and _silent_."

"I resent that," he grumbled as he shifted the weight of the shotgun he had strapped to his back, cursing silently when it caught on the hem of his black tee shirt. "I just can't win."

"Poor baby," Mav chuckled as she reached behind him and untangled the mess. "Tuck your shirt in, bad boy, else it'll catch at a bad time and if that happens, you know what you'll be?"

"Dead?"

"Bingo."

"Heads up, guys. Ash'eld'uir's here," Chaos murmured, drawing their attentions for a moment before they turned to look at the Predators that had just joined them.

While Rakur'a went to join Chaos, and Cha'roth moved as far away from Sypher as he could get, Ash'eld'uir moved to the front of the bridge and turned to look at the ones gathered, sighing in exasperation when he saw Annika and Sypher at the computer. "Katric'ta, what do you think you're doing?" When she didn't answer, he saw Sakaen'i reach out and nudge the other Blooded human, finally drawing her attention.

"Pay attention," Chaos muttered, nodding towards Ash'eld'uir as she whispered to Annika, who blinked and followed her friend's gaze.

"Huh? Oh. Right." Annika blinked again and looked at Ash'eld'uir over her shoulder. "Hi there. We're amping the sensors. We did that test you wanted and everything checked out o.k. Um... I forgot to tell you that, didn't I?" When he nodded, she cursed and rose a hand to her forehead in an exasperated smack. "I _knew_ I forgot something!"

"Don't bust a brain cell there, 'Nikka," Tara smirked. "'Sides, if the test went well then..." she trailed off and glanced at the Leader hopefully.

He sighed again. "Alright, go ahead. Just _be careful._"

"No problemo!" Annika grinned.

Not really wanting to incur another one of her explainations about what she was doing with the computer, he immediately turned his attention to the others that were gathered before him. "When we reach the planet surface, you'll be breaking up into two teams for a quick perimeter search. Cloaked. Rakur'a, Cha'roth, you'll be accompanying Sakaeni's Pack. The rest will be with me."

"Um, can I make a suggestion?" Chaos asked as she pushed away from the wall and stepped forward, waiting for Ash'eld'uir's permission before continuing. "Sypher and Annika made up a sort of scanner which can read life signs and the like. Tell poisonous plants from ones that are edible and such. If it's not too much trouble, I think each team should have one of our techies with them."

"Agreed. Katric'ta will accompany us then." He ignored the winces from Maverick and Cha'roth and was moments away from continuing when Sypher rose her hand and started snapping her fingers in a bid for attention.

"S'up and runnin'," the extravagent hacker grinned. "We're getting readouts from the planet."

Annika typed in another few commands, then sighed in relief. "Breathable atmosphere for us humans. It'll be a bit rough for the yautja, but it won't cause major problems. Thick jungles, numerous life-signs, though I'm not reading any human or... ah. That's why. There's a heavily shielded compound on the southern continent... and I just found debris that matches a yautja ship. It's definately been hit by something really powerful, there's severe hull fractures, and the mirco-core's been destroyed." There were murmurs from Gar'essar and Ash'eld'uir at that, the two Leaders troubled by that last bit of news. "Good news is that I'm not reading any xenomorph activity, though I wouldn't be able to tell if any of the local wildlife is infected or not."

"Back to that compound," Chaos said, unknowingly cutting Ash'eld'uir off. "Any weapons? Sensors?"

"I can't tell. The damned sheild's too powerful. It's distorting any readings I might be able to get."

"But, like, there's something in high orbit around the planet," Sypher added as she frowned at her screen. "I can't get a full readin', but it looks like it's, y'know, cloaked or somethin'."

"Where the hell are you seeing that?" Annika muttered as she leaned over to look at Sypher's screen, staring at the information there before gasping softly. "Sweet flamin' shit! That's a satellite armed with T-cell anti-matter torpedoes!"

Even before Annika had finished speaking, Ash'eld'uir was barking orders to the other yautja as Rakur'a rushed over to the flight controls, disabling the auto-pilot as he brought the ship to a full stop, glancing over at Gar'essar to insure that the other Leader had taken post at the weapons. "Engage the cloak. Are we being targeted?"

"No," both Annika and Gar'essar said in unison.

"It's not powering up. Energy readings at minimal," Annika continued. "Though it'll take me a bit to figure out it's range. It looks like it has some interesting little add-ons, like yautja cloaking technology."

_That_ got Ash'eld'uir's full attention. "What?" he snapped. "Was it taken from the downed ship?"

Annika frowned and shook her head. "Can't tell. But judging from the condition of the crashed ship, I don't think much of the systems survived. My bet is that it was stolen way before the other Pack arrived."

"That means our hunch was right," Ray whispered to Chaos, who nodded grimly, her eyes narrowing slightly, a sure sign that someone was in for a lot of trouble. He stepped back in surprise when her wrist knives suddenly flanged out, the sound drawing everyones's gazes, and he shot a panicked glance at her, worried at the dark expression on her face. "Chaos..."

Sensing the rising tension in the room, she forced her arm to relax, letting the knives sheath themselves, though it was a struggle not to unsheathe them again. "I'm alright, dammit," she growled, glaring at various people until they averted their gazes. "Annika, can you disrupt the satellites programming?"

"Sorry, no," Annika sighed, looking up at her friend apologetically. "The signal's so encrypted that it would take me hours to crack it, and even then, I can't promise that any attempt to hack into it won't trigger some sort of security measure."

"Damn," Maverick grumbled. "Then what the hell are we gonna do? We can't sit here all damned day."

Ash'eld'uir kept silent for a moment before turning to the two hackers. "Is there a way to sending out a jamming signal that would allow us to get past the sentry?"

Sypher frowned thoughtfully and tapped a finger against her chin. "Maybe, but it'll be, like, major dangerous. If the satellite is a part of a..." she cut herself off with a gasp and spun back to her computer, typing furiously. "This is, like, _totally_ bad, y'know?"

Ray groaned and rose a hand to massage his aching temple. "Someone wanna translate that?"

"We're in trouble," Jaquays supplied, barely managing to keep his balance when the ship suddenly rocked violently. "Sweet shit! We're being shot at!"

"Tell me something I don't know!" Annika snapped testily as she righted herself and checked the readouts. "Oooh, _shit!_ That satellite is part of a network. There were three other sentry's that were hidden in the fifth moon's atmosphere! That's why they didn't show up on the sensors, the fifth moon has a ring of asteroids around it! We have to get out of here! Now!"

"Go!" Ash'eld'uir growled to Rakur'a, roaring when another hit rolled the ship. Sparks exploded from one of the stations, raining down on him as he rose an arm to sheild his face before lowering it to scowl at the damage that now scarred the bridge.

Luckily, Ray managed to predict the next overload before it could take two victims. "'Nikka! Sypher! Get down!" Not wasting a moment, he grabbed the two women and yanked them away from the interface port, taking a split-second to rip their computers free of the main computer before flashes of blue plasma played over the console, sending sparks ad flickers of flame dancing over his back as he spun to sheild the two hackers with his body.

"The cloaking field is down!" Gar'essar called out above the sounds of the carnage. "Weapons are inactive and the internal stabilizers are failing!"

"What the hell does that mean!" Maverick yelled to Chaos as she scrambled to keep herself upright when the ship lurched again.

"It means 'hold on'!" Chaos shouted, barely able to curl her fingers around the edge of a bulkhead before the floor bucked beneath them, sending half of the group sprawling. A savage explosion sent Rakur'a flying as the main computer completely shorted out, and she yelped as she turned away from the flames and smoke that poured from the console as she scrambled over to the fallen Predator, helping him crawl back from the flames before she ripped the right sleeve off of her shirt and pressed the material against the ragged cut he now had on his broad forehead, dabbing at the bright green blood that had begun to flow.

Another shower of sparks rained down upon them, and she instinctively moved to sheild the big alien, her breath burning in her lungs as the smoke that filled the bridge thickened. She could hear the panicked cries from her friends as the floor bucked again, the motion much more powerful that before, and she just barely made out Cha'roth's voice announcing that the internal dampeners had blown out.

Desperation had taken hold over the group as the ship rocked and bucked from the direct hits to its hull, and it was Tara that managed to reach the controls first, a particularly bad hit sending her crashing into the large Predator seat in front of the naviagtional console, her hands pitifully small on the two joystick like manual controls as she gripped them. "I may not know how to fly this damned thing but I can figure out how to crash it!" she shouted as she threw her weight against the levers, her scream of surprise joining those of the others as the ship shot straight upwards at a near perfect ninety degrees instead of rocketing downwards as she had thought.

"Tara! You idiot!" Maverick yelled as she was thrown back to become imtimate with a bulkhead. "You're going the wrong fuckin' way!"

"You're going to get us all _killed!_" Slater added as he tried to reach her only to have Gar'essar lose his balance and land on him.

"Tara! You have to pull back on the controls!" Rakur'a shouted as he unsteadily got to his feet and tried to reach her, only to have part of the ceiling bulkhead crumple and slam down infront of him, blocking his path. "Pull back!"

Heart pounding, Annika darted forward and wriggled her way past the bulkhead, ignoring Ash'eld'uir's warning cry as another explosion sent flames and sparks flying everywhere. Reaching a panicking Tara's side, she planted a foot against the ruined terminal and grabbed the controls, heaving back on them with all her strength. The ship did another sharp course change, this time arrowing striaght down through the planet's atmostphere, making alarms sound out throughout the corridors as the hull temperature and stress soared to dangerous levels.

Understanding now what she had done wrong, Tara quickly followed Annika's example, helping her friend keep the wildly shaking ship from going off course. "Everyone hold on!"

Ray paled at the tone of his friend's voice. "If I die because of your crappy flying I'm coming back to haunt you!"

The ship hit the surface at a speed that sent it ploughing into the dirt. Trees were flattened by the impact as it slid across acres of land, carving a deep trench through the forest it had landed on until it eventually came to a stop, smoke and flames pouring from the great rends in it's hull and engines. It rested there silently for a moment before a well aimed plasma bolt widened one of the hull fractures, letting more smoke pour out from the bridge as forms slowly crawled out of the debris.

Coughing violently, Ash'eld'uir dragged the dazed Sanchez and Maverick clear of the wreck before going back to help Cha'roth with the other three marines. Gar'essar exited next, perching on the edge of the rend to reach back and pull out a semi-conscious Ray, followed by a wide-eyed Sypher. Rakur'a came last, cradling Annika in his arms as Ash'eld'uir helped the unsteady warrior to a spot far away from the billowing clouds of smoke.

"We couldn't find Tara and Sakaen'i," Gar'essar growled to the Leader, who frowned as he looked back at the ship. "There's a bulkhead that's completely destroyed the naviagational console. They may have been..."

Ned felt his stomach bottom out at those words and scrambled to his feet, torn at the thought that he may have lost his daughter without ever having the chance to make things right. He was moments away from throwing himself back into the fray when a blue haired maelstorm shoved past him, sending him sprawling.

"No!" Maverick cried as she staggered to her feet, dropping the sniper rifle that she had strapped to her back to the ground. "There's no way that..." She shook her head to rid herself of such dark thoughts and stomped past them, shoulders squared as she headed back to the wrecked portion of the hull, shoving Jaquays aside when he tried to grab her arm. "Don't touch me!"

Seconds before she would have crawled into the rend, she gave a yelp of surprise as a hand shot out of the smoke to grasp the edges of the hole, the sound of coughing making her lunge forward to help the ones climbing out, a grin of stark relief spreading over her lips when Tara pulled herself out and turned to haul a gasping Chaos out after her. "Are you two alright!"

"Peachy," Tara coughed as she helped Chaos stagger away from the wreck, groaning as her knees buckled, sending her falling to the ground. "Chaos... someone help Chaos..."

Worried, Rakur'a left a recovering Annika's side and joined Ash'eld'uir as the Leader carefully supported the Blooded human, fairly lifting her off her feet when it seemed like she was going to collapse. "Sakaen'i?"

"I'm alright," she rasped, her throat raw from all the smoke she had inhaled. She was dimly aware of Rakur'a scooping her into his arms as she coughed, wincing at the ache in her lungs before she rubbed at her itching eyes. She felt someone press two fingers against her neck then, and she frowned as she looked at Slater as he took her pulse then listened to her breathing.

"She breathed in too much smoke," he frowned as he turned and assessed Tara's condition as well. "So did she. These two will have to take it easy for a little while. What took you two so long to get out of there?"

"Ya mean besides the blinding amount of smoke?" Tara muttered, swatting his hands aside and then staggering to her feet.

"Oh God..." Clutching her head, Annika fought the urge to lie down on the ground and die and instead turned her attention to tracking down her friends. "What is the cosmic price for this little stunt?"

"I don't think we want to know," Chaos groaned, weakly pushing at Rakur'a. "Put me down... I'm alright."

He hesitated for a moment before rumbling and gently setting her on her feet, hovering close to her in case it seemed like she was going to lose her balance. Glad that he had clipped his facemask to his armor, he quickly followed his fellow warriors' examples and quickly donned it, glad for the blessed filtered air that eased the tight ache in his lungs as he attached the filtration tubuals to the mask, taking in a deep breath of the clean air.

"Lucky him," Marshall muttered to Annika, who snickered.

Chaos, meanwhile, was the first person to actually take a decent look at the landscape around them, and she drew many a stare as her jaw dropped while she stared at the red tinted vegetation that seemed to be native to the world. Splotches of odd colours adorned the jungle they had ploughed into, the underbrush contrasting against the red of the soil and the odd colours of the trees and flowers. "Holy fuckin' hell, what kind of _fucked up_ place is this!"

Alerted by her cry, both Maverick and Sypher glanced at each other before taking a long look at their surroundings, the former of the two grimacing in disgust at the sight. "Sweet God..." she gasped. "Out of all of us... Sypher's the only one who blends in!"

"That's just sad," Jaquays commented, hearing Rakur'a and Cha'roth's low growls of surprise when the two Predators' altered the vision spectrum in the facemask and looked at the forest as they were doing. "My sentiments exactly."

Peering at something silver amongst the red, Ray edged closer to the shining object and carefully picked it up, his eyes widening as he turned the palm-sized leaf this way and that, shocked. "It's _metal._"

"What?" Tara was certain that she must have heard him wrong. "You're kidding."

"I shit you not!" he protested, drawing a dagger and pinging the blade against the leaf. "It's metal!"

Her curiousity taking over, Annika walked over to him and plucked the leaf from his fingers, studying it. "It's light, like a feather... but I can't bend it. It's so thin too."

"This is pushing the limits of how much weird shit I can handle," Maverick announced as she put a hand to her head and rubbed at her aching temple. "This place is fucked up."

"That's my line!" Chaos retorted.

Sypher, who out of all of them had been the only one to keep her backpack with her during the mayhem, reached back into her bag and pulled out the scanner she and Annika had built, checking it to make sure it wasn't damaged before activating it. "Wow... this place is like, a geneticists nightmare."

"Geneticist?" Sanchez echoed curiously as he slung the strap of his rifle over his left shoulder and walked over to her, eyeing the scanner that she held, the sleek datapad like contraption looking far more fragile that it was. "You mean that someone's altered this planet?"

"Like, totally! Cuz from these readin's here, there's no way all this stuff grew here naturally. Some of these things must have been made in, like, test tubes or somethin'."

"Evanston," Cha'roth growled, seeing Chaos nod in agreement. "His sire, didn't he create Hunter's Planet?"

"Yes. He was also the one to alter the xenos, the Hard Meat, into warriors," Rakur'a told him. "It was Sakaen'i's mother who led the battle that overthrew him."

At the mention of her mother, Chaos glanced away from them and sucked in a breath, fighting back an irrational bout of emotion. A taloned hand landed on her shoulder then, and she turned to look up at Rakur'a as he gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. "I'm alright," she assured him, shooting him a brief smile before she took a breath and quickly figured out a rough plan of attack for the current situation. "Ann--"

But her father bet her to it. Sanchez, once he was certain that everyone was accounted for, decided to take control since Gar'essar and Ash'eld'uir had gone back into the ship in order to scrounge up some of the missing weapons that had gotten lost in the crash. "Rakur'a, take Chaos and Tara and scout the area. Annika, Sypher boot up those scanners of yours and tell me what there is around us. Cha'roth, stay here and keep an eye on her, Marshall, you and Slater are with me. The rest of you, try to salvage what you can."

Chaos growled under her breath and folded her arms over her chest, leveling a violent glare at him for a moment before she snarled out a yautja curse and spun to stalk into the forest, her hands clenched into fists as her sides as she walked. She didn't see Rakur'a and Tara exchange wary glances before they followed her.

"You'd better watch yourself," Maverick said to Sanchez as she rubbed dirt off of her face. "You seem to be under the impression that she won't maul you if you piss her off."

He frowned at her. "Nyoko is my daughter--"

"_Chaos_ may be your daughter, 'sir'," she drawled. "But if she had her way, she'd dump you in a second." Turning away from him, she went to rejoin Jaquays and her friends, feeling Sanchez' gaze on her as she walked. In her eyes, Ned Sanchez had failed a really important test. Hurting one of her friends was bad enough, but by not speaking about something that he was obviously hiding from Chaos meant that he couldn't be trusted. Those who kept secrets were never to be trusted, she had learned that the hard way a long time ago.

Worried at the look in his commander's eyes, Slater leaned towards Sanchez and frowned. "Sir? You okay?"

Sanchez shook himself out of his thoughts and sighed. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."

"Ned. I know that look," Marshall scolded him lightly. "Wouldn't you save yourself all this beatin' up if you just _told her?_"

"Told her what?" he countered tiredly. "That she's right? That sending her away was quite possibly the stupidest thing I've ever done?"

"Well, yeah. Why not? Wouldn't it break the ice between you two?"

"That's assuming that she actually listens to me."

Slater sighed. "He's got a point. She's got her mother's temper."

"She seems to have spread that temper on to her friends too," Ned muttered sourly. "And I won't even start on Rakur'a's temper."

"Good point," Marshall agreed moodily. "A pissed off Pred is something that I don't want to encounter on a good day, nevermind a bad one."

"He is a little protective of her," Slater commented with a raised eyebrow, said eyebrow lowering at the glare that Ned sent him. "I'm just sayin' is all."

"Look. I'll patch things up when this is all over. A freakish alien planet isn't exactly the right place to have a heart to heart." His tone of voice made it clear that he was finished speaking about it, and the two soldiers nodded in understanding. "Alright. C'mon, let's go check out the perimeter."

TBC


End file.
